8.02.2012

on controversy and compassion.

  I tend to avoid issues of this nature because I can get a little heated and passionate about my opinions-- but this one is just too much for me to avoid.

I've been seeing a lot of opinions flying around about this Chick-fil-a controversy so I thought I'd chime in. 

But first a disclaimer: I should mention that the only time I ever eat fast food is if I am completely shit faced, which happens about once (or twice) a year, and I almost exclusively only eat the "vegetarian" options at taco bell. Personally, I think fast food is disgusting, and it takes me like 3 weeks to drink enough water to rid my body of the sodium overload.

Secondly, I do not consider myself to be a religious person, because religion is man-made. Science is also man-made which is why I do not solely believe in science either. I do however believe in God, and I believe that humans, especially of the religious variety, get a little too high and mighty when it comes to the rights of other folks, and they mask that ignorance with religion, and therefore God, and that's just not right. 

So onwards. 

I found out this evening that August 1st was Chick-fil-a appreciation day. Sweet. People freaking love chick-fil-a and that\'s cool... What stings me is this, the reason I even KNEW about this was because about 10 of my Christian friends were flaunting pictures of themselves indulging on Facebook. I am in no way saying they should boycott CFA, frankly I don\'t give a flying fuck what people eat, your body, your problem.. But what worries me is these people, who, claim to follow Christ are so belligerent about their beliefs that they do not care if they hurt their gay/lesbian/transgendered friends.

Dan Cathy can say whatever the heck he wants to say, but when folks are deciding to boycott an organization because it donates proceeds to anti-gay establishments, I just think it is downright mean, petty, and definitely not Christlike to flaunt your waffle fries on Facebook.

Freedom of speech, maybe? But we're all free to say whatever we want, does that mean we should? 

Here is my main issue with Christians against gay marriage, and I stand firm that this is not a Christian issue, because I know plenty of Christians who support it, my issue is.. If homosexuality is a sin, so therefore gay people shouldn't have equal rights, under United States law, to marry each other, then how come fat people can get married? Isn't obesity a direct fault of gluttony, or sloth? Both sins. 

And folks who participate in premarital sex..the bible speaks of how horrible and evil that is, and yet, when Mary Sue gets knocked up out of wedlock, chances are she will be encouraged to marry Bobby Joe. Why aren't Religious groups speaking out against these sinners? After all, these are the kinds of "sins" that one can control and homosexuality is arguably something one is born with. I know a few gay people, and trust me, even though they "liked" girls in 3rd grade, they were still gay. 

I personally have no issues with the teachings of Jesus Christ, but I do have an issue with folks picking and choosing which sins are okay to ignore, and which are not. The bible says a lot of things, and I don't know many people who abide by even half of those things. It's not our place to judge each other- religious or non.

This is not a freedom of speech issue, this is a human rights issue. If a church chooses not to ordain a marriage between a gay couple, fine. That is the churches right, and because of a beautiful thing called "separation of church and state" the US government can't make the church do anything. But when the church decides it is okay to press its beliefs on the constitutional rights of other humans, I have a huge issue with that. Both the church and the state are protected by this separation, and it's about time the state start exercising that right.

So I'm not sure what kind of point some of my friends were trying to make today by posting their waffle fries and peach shakes of Facebook, but what i gathered was it is okay to be intolerant of equal human rights, but to quote my favorite movie "don't fuck with the Jesus."

I'm sure God is looking down on us all right now laughing his/her/its ass off.. "if these people only knew they should be worrying about themselves, and themselves alone, the world would be a better place--silly little humans, always judging each other"  

That said, I encourage my friends to stand back and look at the bigger picture.. What are you doing to better YOURSELF. If you are distracting yourself with who other people are marrying, or boycotting, or not boycotting, or how they are sinning or not sinning, then chances are you aren't digging into your heart enough. I promise you, God will not be mad at you for supporting equal rights, he will however have something to say about you discriminating against & judging a group of people because they believe/feel/think differently than you. Anyone remember the civil rights movement?

Beliefs are just that, beliefs. They are not facts. They are measly unproven theories that you, a human, adheres to. And, I'd say the same thing about science. There are just as many, if not more, unproven theories in the science world as there are in the religious world. The only fact that truly exists is there simply is not enough compassion shared in this world, and it makes life so much more difficult for everyone. 

The universal trait I have found in all faiths/spiritual philosophies is compassion. Perhaps that is the only "Godly" trait we are truly capable of. Spouting out rules written in a book, translated a human does not make you Godly, but compassion and love for others does. 

Namaste,

R

8 comments:

  1. I love everything about this post.

    Also, those Christians that pick and choose what they feel like believing in? Cafeteria Christians. Only selecting what FEEL LIKE from the variety of items.

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  2. Thanks for posting this. I'm not gay but I believe in gay rights and I can't believe how many of my Facebook "friends" we're posting support of chick fil a. Anti gay discrimination is no more correct than anti-black or anti- semitism. Being gay is not a choice , it's the way you are born.

    Love is love. Supposedly religion is about love and doing the right thing. Hate is neither. It scares me.

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  3. I completely agree! And I'm a Christian, just one who believes that whole "land of the free" spiel.

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  4. Hey Ryan,

    Thank you for your lovely comment - it truely made my day :)
    It is nice to know there are others out there who are also about spreading the love, rather than this madness we saw today!

    Candice x

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  5. Thanks for this. All those people flaunting their Chicken and fries kind of made me lose faith in people. Thanks for restoring it a little.

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  6. Thanks for posting this. It really grossed me out that people were flaunting their Chick-Fil-A appreciation Day on Facebook knowing full well what it really represented. I love the point you made about the church won't acknowledge a gay marriage but will basically acknowledge an obese marriage. All sins. anyway you might also like this article/blog post/

    http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2012/07/27/in-the-basement

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  7. Totally agree friend. It really sucks that this has become an issue. I think it's hilarious when people say that they were just defending Cathey's right to free speech - would Christians have come out in some droves if Cathey had said he was against interracial marriage?

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