Today, I walked by a local newspaper and the headline was “Does God Love Gays?”. I thought it was odd. At first, I was irritated at how the writer/editor was planning to sell magazines by preying those in our world who this is a hot topic for. Then I remembered that’s the modus operandi of many publishers and I guess I should be used to it. I still think it’s cheap.
So, I started to think about this question. First, it assumes that a majority of people would believe that God exists. Second, it assumes that God has a preference for straight people. So, it sounds like a religious question about homosexuals. But, is it really a religious question?
Just as fruit for a discussion, does a God exist? There’s a whole lot of stories about God and about creation. But, before I go into that. There’s a big physical component. It’s called life. And, there’s another called death. I don’t know of much else from experience. Most people don’t remember anything before life. Some do, but their credibility is often questioned. We can’t really ask those who’ve past what they are experiencing now because they’re gone. Their intangible consciousness isn’t available to us. Now, there are some who claim that it is. However, their credibility also comes into question.
Given that we can’t see before life or after it. How can we not be agnostic? Well, I don’t think agnosticism is a complete approach. I say this because there are so many things that are invisible to us. You can’t physically see a thought or consciousness. You can only see their result…that result can be a physical manifestation like a house that was built or an emotional response. This is a lot like the wind in that it’s not seen, but it is felt. Is everyone with me? Any experts around on this one?
What other invisible forces are there? I think I’ve seen the results of Karma. However, I can’t be sure that’s what it was. I know people who talk of things that have happened to them that were so coincidental that it just had to pre-ordained. Once again, these things are not easily measured. There are definitely things that occur that we cannot explain, and these kinds of things are what make up, I think, what many people call God or the results of God. I have to say, just because something can’t easily be measured doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It just means our ways of measuring aren’t perfect. If they were, who knows what we’d find out?
Given that we can’t for sure say God exists, this is where believing comes in. Believing comes in lots of different variations. Mostly people interpret things for themselves when it comes to beliefs. I think this is based on their translation of the thought of what God means to them compared to their life experience. Each person has a unique view. I haven’t heard all people agree to all things. There are always differences. Regardless, many people have similar enough beliefs that put them into larger groups. The larger groups are what make up religions. Each religion is unique as well. Regardless of how long they’ve been around, they usually all have creation stories.
If I was born in Egypt, I’d probably think differently than I do from being brought up in Oklahoma. If I was born in Ireland when the Celtic Galls were the main people prior to the Romans, I probably would have a different outlook as well. If I was Persian…etc. Given that I understand that a different life experience and different cultural environment would no doubt shape my religious view, I have a hard time accepting a dogma…even if I agree with it.
Now, back to the question of “Does God Love Gays?”. That whole thing about assuming a god exists is very grey if you followed my last paragraph. You’d have to choose a belief to even go into that question. And, by choosing a belief, you are choosing something based on a preference you have. That preference has likely come from where you were born, raised, and largely experienced life. It seems more to me that this question is a distortion because it is not really a religious question. It is a preference question that is distorted by a religious assumption. No?
Moving past the God part and moving now on to preferences, many people are not comfortable with Gays. In my own experience as a young person who encountered gay people, honestly, I kept a fair distance. I had heard many rumors about gays and how they were sick and would try to seduce me and make me gay. There could have been a few seduction attempts, but I can’t be so sure. What I can say happened for sure is that as I came to know the gays as people, I found out they were people. They had many similar needs to me…food, water, shelter, emotional wellbeing, financial success, etc. I began to approach them not from a standpoint of them being gay, but from a standpoint of them being people. I now have gay friends who are very good people. I can see it in their thoughts, words, and actions.
The root of my apprehension was actually fear. I didn’t know what these kind of people were up to and so I feared them. Honestly, I feared what they might invoke in me (Could they make me gay? Oh no!). I extrapolate and generalize that is what the rest of the question means. So if the newspaper was cutting to the bone, they would have asked the question “Do people not like gays because they are afraid of them?”
Experts, what do you think?