Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Sun, 13 Sep 1992 09:56:19 PDT
From:         Barry Wadsworth <BARRYW@UCSFVM.BITNET>
Subject:      Gays want to be left alone???

I would like, for a moment, to present a non-Christian viewpoint.
Bear with me for a moment -- all will be revealed at the end.

"I think you are greatly mistaken.  Christian fundamentalists are extremely
active trying to make the rest of us accept their ways.  And we cannot. It is
against democratic values.  They do not want to be left alone. They
want to make statements by hanging religious iconography in our museums
and school hallways.  And they want us as taxpayers to pay for this. They
print obscene and slanderous articles in their newspapers about people that
happen to disagree with them.  They want government to exempt them from
taxation.  They want to make our society accept them as
they are with no willingness to stop partaking in proselytization.  They want
us to let them be our spiritual leaders, our clergy, and teach our
children. 
No, I'm sorry.  You are sadly mistaken. They want to be teachers and 
principals, role models for our children. They wish to take control of the 
mass media to continually bombard other Americans with their agenda.  They 
seek political office to be our governors and our representatives.  How can 
they represent democratic values?
They want to raise families. Their totally mixed-up children pay the price 
for their selfish, politically motivated, confused acts. They have created
a huge division in our country by labeling people who disagree with them 
"Anti-family" and "Perverts."
They move into our neighborhoods and hang signs condemning us from their 
living room windows and then react with shock when they get a rock
thrown through their windows (which I, nor any law-abiding person should
ever condone, but, hey, not everyone who disagrees with their ways is a
law-abiding citizen).
With over 10,000,000 already indoctrinated ito their cause and raising
children, according to Newsweek this week, I wonder what next!
The truth is, WE just want to be left alone. We want our CHILDREN to be
left alone. We want our businesses, our lives, our taxes, and our religions
and churches to be left alone.
But, Christian fundamentalists in this country have an agenda and they 
will not stop until they are either forced to listen to reason, repent, and 
stop their narrow-minded acts (and stop aiding the fundamentalist agenda), 
or they completely overtake this country and change it forever.
This kind of change will open the flood gates for every kind of evil in
the name of freedom and human rights.  But, what about the freedom of people
who do not wish to see Christian propaganda but are forced to.  What
about our rights to have our children be taught by teachers of high
moral standards who can serve as role models? What about our rights to
preserve democratic traditions without having them defiled by people who try to
rise to positions of power within them for their own political motives?
No, you are very wrong.  The fundamemtalists in this country do not want to
be left alone. They want to open everyone's bedroom doors to the public. It
would have been much wiser to keep them closed. Next they also must come out 
of the closet and demand that their art be funded, and that they be able to 
become our teachers and leaders.
As I said, we must be compassionate toward these confused people. We
must be willing to listen and to help them.  We should welcome them into our
neighborhoods, but under our terms, not theirs! Compassionate love is not
blind and is not afraid to correct a problem that would result in fascism.
We don't need to create any more hell for ourselves than we already have
in this country."

At this point, I'm sure a number of you are justifiably steamed at 
over-generalized, narrow-minded, and downright offensive attack on a
belief which most of you hold (to some degree or another). I bet some
of you resent being lumped in with the most radical members of the
Christian faith and the claim that they speak for all Chirstians And
I bet this argument wouldn't make you want to be a less devout Christian;
in fact, I'm sure quite the opposite is true.

I'll also bet that the more astute readers have noticed that I have 
borrowed Barry W.'s post almost exactly, changing only the focus from
Christians against homosexuals to non-Christians (secular humanists, 
if you like) against Christians. (Sorry, Barry, but you set yourself up 
for this).

My point is this: You cannot convince people to turn aside from a path
they perceive to be acceptable by condemning them. This only results 
in making them perceive YOU as misguided. Barry's call for compassion 
and love, while correct, seems strangely out of place at the end of 
such a diatribe. I suggest that if you want to change people's minds
and hearts, you should walk in their shoes for a while and get to 
understand their perspective. You may find that they are not the 
embodiment of evil after all, but merely fallible humans like the rest 
of us.

John R.

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