No gays? No lobsters or Gillette either, then!

by Greg McDonald

The Bishop of Rochester's ignorant homophobic diatribes are not only wrong, not only deliberately divisive, not only cynical political opportunism of the lowest kind – they’re an insult to the spirit of the entire Christian faith.

Michael Nazir-Ali says homosexuals are welcome in his church – on the small condition that they "repent and change". Which is rather like you or I being made welcome by the Satanists next door – just as soon as we've offered up our first born in sacrifice to Pan.

Yet while the Bishop's opponents – those inclusive, generous-spirited Anglicans who live according the essential spirit of the fundamental Christian instruction to "love thy neighbour" – understand that homophobes are wrong, they have a problem, for while they may be on the side of the angels they're patently against part of their own scripture.

Christianity's journey of faith, charity and culture may have come a long way since the Sermon on the Mount, but for Nazir-Ali and his divisive Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, the primitive laws on homosexuality laid down in the Old Testament, and the eternity in hell awaiting such sinners, remain carved in stone.

Yet in drawing on such scripture Nazir-Ali is committing the grossest hypocrisy: while the Good Book does indeed outlaw men lying with men, the youthful-faced Bishop forgets that his scripture also equally condemns as "abomination" men who shave their beards.

And just three lines before Leviticus's condemnation of homosexuals, another group of sinners find themselves in the queue for Hell: those Satanic sea-devils you and I know as lobsters!

Faced with the scientific and social evidence of their error and the threat of being, in Nazir-Ali's words, "rolled over" by the irresistible process of a cultural enlightenment their prejudice can no longer hold back, the worst homophobes stoop to using faith as justification. Such an insult should be recognised by Anglicans for what it is: an abomination.

Comments

[Gillette Profile]

Let people became people and don't make them your puppets.. :(

We just borrowed our life and let us make the best out of it.

[Anon]

RubyGottlob

I still don't follow your drift!

[RubyGottlob]

I agree that the bible is 'hogwash', as you put it. I took is that Anon was a crazed christian, though he didn't express himself very clearly so perhaps not. I was pointing out that the christians who are anti-homosexual on the basis of Leveticus are inconsistent unless they also believe in stoning people willy-nilly.

[fookemall]

and let us not forget that all these fairy stories were written in an era when 99.9999999 percent of the people could NOT read or write ............
now that in itself SHOULD point clearly to the elitist portion of that eras society using literacy to their very own advantage !!!

[jesus christ !!]

no ... he is probably, and correctly surmising that anyone that thinks they are intelligent and yet believe in fairy stories ... as the bible undoubtedly is ......have to be lacking in common sense to believe in the unprovable collation of ancient hogwash !!

[RubyGottlob]

Anon- I hope that by 'fellow christians' you're not trying to insinuate that I am one; I'm certainly not.
I find your post slightly confusing. Are you trying to say that the old testament has it right and that people who work on the sabbath as well as adulterers ought to be stoned to death?

[Anon]

Some people think that adulterers should be stabbed in the back or even battered to death!!!! especially the spouses who have been wronged and since they were more than likely joined in front of God in holy matrimony then I don't think Ruby can speak for fellow Christians.

It is the British legal system that says that people who work on the sabbath and adulterers ought NOT to be stoned to death along with anybody else who is alive and kicking on the sabbeth and nothing to do with religion.

[RubyGottlob]

Lola- Agreed; the bible is clear that homosexuality is wrong. The point is that the same part of the bible is also clear on a number of other points e.g. That people who work on the sabbath and adulterers ought to be stoned to death; which all right-minded christians reject. The argument is that it is arbitrary and homophobic to reject the latter two doctrines whilst still maintaining that homosexuality is an abomination.

[reggae]

Its true she just disapears

[reggae]

I was only trying to help. What did i say wrong.

[reggae]

Ican't believe that my post was censored.

[brian jones]

hey lola ,
the fact the "holy bible" ... as you put it... almost always only uses first names instead of a full name that definately defines a specific person is done in order to cteate a senario which can only be believed by people that have blind faith !!
when nothing can be proved one way or another as to the prescence of a supernatural being then unless a person has a psychological disorder it is always prudent to take such fantasies at face value .. i.e what cannot be proven cannot possibly be seen as fact !!..
btw.. what would your appraisal of the bible be today if for instance someone
claimed to be the son of god

[Lola Zaza]

Dear Brian Jones, although Mary was Jesus's mother, no reference was made to any other name she may have had. This of course is quite common in the Holy Bible .
I do not try to undermine anyones religion as every person is intitled to believe in any deity they wish. Whether I have a faith or you have one is entirely our own affair.
I also would not be so patronising or presumptuous as tell people why religions (whatever they are) were created.
I hope this clarifies any issues you may have had.
I shall not visit this blog again.

[brian jones]

hey lola .......
so, you mean to tell me that no -one knew marys name !! this,, dont forget was supposed to be the woman wno bore "jesus"... and yet no one knew her name .......
you cannot be serious!!!
religion , my dear was man made in an attempt to prevent humanity , not only from fearing death ... but created in mankinds ignorance of how and why life exists on this wonderful planet ......
we are here because we are her because we are here.. there is absolutely no need to attempt to reason why other than to enjoy our short stay here and to treat others as you would be treated yourself ......
to actually laugh at the worlds "religious orders" is to see the futility of having BLIND FAITH in spurious writings !! amen

[Religion is MAKE BELIEVE]

That last contributor has stated correctly.

SUPPOSED TO

and

ALLEGED

Religion no matter what is MAKE BELIEVE encouraged by governments to calm the masses.

All religions tell you to be good to others ETC,ETC,ETC,

But ALL religions are BEHIND WARS and STRIFE through out the world.

ALL armies GOOD OR BAD pray to their "god" before going into battle for supremacy.

So any "god" is going to be on the side of any army GOOD OR BAD.

WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH.

[Lola Zaza]

To the real creator.
Whether or not you believe in any religion or faith, you should respect others who do so, to be so offensive about other peoples faiths shows a lack of understanding and a norrow minded outlook on life.
Mary Magdalene was the woman whom Jesus was supposed to have saved from stoning. The Mary you mean was alleged to be a virgin and Jesus's mother, we are not told her full name.

[Where is the truth???]

Where is the truth???

Not in ANY religion.

OR LEFT ON HERE.

[Here Here]

Mikey and Like Mikey said.
Aint it the truth.

["love thy neighbour"]

Michael Nazir-Ali says homosexuals are welcome in his church.

How many are actualy PART of the the church???

How many members of the church have commited horrendus acts against children?

Come on everybody "love thy neighbour" does not mean what a lot of these people are doing .

[Dot.com]

I wonder what happened to all those souls who didn't know that sex outside marriage was a sin especially if marriage hadn't been invented?

[mikey]

Sex outside of marriage is sin whether that be with couples of same sex or opposite sex it doesn't really matter. God has set His laws clearly in His word the Bible. The wonderful thing is that whatever sin we commit it can be forgiven because of His Son Jesus sacrifice on the cross. Jesus said repent and believe the gospel. That encapsulates ALL of us because we are ALL sinners. God loves us so much he gave His Son for us. Don't delay recieve Jesus Christ as saviour before it's too late.

[Lola Zaza]

Where does it say in the Holy Bible that priests and and other church officials can change the laws to suit themselves?
The teachings of the Bible are quite explicit on the point of homosexuality. It is an abomination!
Nowhere does th Bible say that you can "adjust" the laws to suit what is "in vogue" at the time.
To have a priest teach the laws and love of god when they themselves are breaking one of his fundimental laws is beyond the realms of hypocrisy.

[Peter]

There have been other times in history when various kinds of aberrant behaviour have been touted as "normal", but on each occasion the society involved has regained its balance and returned to the norm.

The obsessive insistence that homosexuality is "equivalent" to heterosexuality stems from current political dogma and in historical terms is nothing more than a passing fad. In 20 years time it will be gone and homosexuality will have returned to where it belongs, in the private lives of those who are that way inclined. The sad thing is that the fad will leave behind a number of kids who have been permanently damaged by the irresponsible behaviour of the authorities.

[The Bogus Anon]

Andy T.... Greg isn't gay, he just helps out when they're busy.

[Curious Me!!!]

I always thought that all faiths teach us that EVERYONE is equal. Does this make then make us hypocrites???

[Andy T]

Thou doth protest too much, Greg. The bish is entitled to his opinion like anyone else. Is tha battin' for t'other side?

[Dot.com]

I think that allowing same sex couples to adopt children is offensive and should be outlawed.

Children are brought into this world because of heterosexual relationships and as such should be adopted by couples in a heterosexual relationship.

The rest just makes me want to vomit.

[No one DARE say anything]

No one DARE say anything in this hypocritcal downtrodden over run country against those sort of peoples because we have a WEAK so called government and always will do until the next civil war or revolution.

We should stop the rot now and our WEAK so called government should stand by its own rules on immigration.

It cost this country MILLIONS of pounds to repatriate JUST ONE family out of the THOUSANDS of families that were REFUSED asylum last year.

Where are these families now?

They are lining up at post office cash machines to get their benefits that that ALL REFUSED ASYLUM SEEKERS AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS are awarded by the WEAK government that has REFUSED them admission to this country.

Why have a law on immigration,asylum and repatriation and NOT stand by any decision made?

[John]

Christians believe that the person is not sinful - it is what they do, that can be. So a gay is perfectly OK in the Church just so long as s/he does not practice anything that is against the Christian religion - like satanic worship, murder, rape or homosexual acts. Is this so unreasonable?
I hate organised religion but I can understand their views and their desires to retain a purity of behaviour (as defined in their religion) - we all have and obey accepted rules of behaviour.

I don't hear anyone attacking the Islamic religions for their anti-gay beliefs or the Indians for their racist caste system - why is that do you think ???

[RELIGION IS THE SCOURGE OF MANKIND.]

RELIGION IS THE SCOURGE OF MANKIND.

Forget anything this man or any religious person says because religion is all make believe.

It is like football it is tolerated and encouraged by governments to keep the masses quiet and under control.

If there ever was " A CREATOR " then WHO CREATED THE CREATOR? ad infinitum.

Its all tish tosh.

Hans Christian Anderson told better stories than any religious made up poppycock.

Look at the state of the world because of religion.

Say no more.