God Hates Fags

“God Hates Fags”. That’s what the sign said as it was bouncing back and forth along the sidewalk. The National Council of Bishops was meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas to address, among other things, the sexual abuses of boys by priests. I was walking with my brother Kirk and my friend Phil to grab a bite to eat for lunch. We passed the cordoned protest area and saw the dozen or so protesters picketing the Catholic Bishops. My blood began to boil. I was beginning to feel enraged. Not because I am gay and not because I am Catholic but because these fuckers were invoking the name of God, presumably the same God that I profess to serve. It crossed my mind to run across the street and do violence to them. But I thought better of that and continued walking to the pizza joint for lunch. I stewed over these assholes who were propagating the benevolent and kind God that I serve to affirm their puerile agenda. The rest of the day was a wash for me. I went home that evening and had to see them marching again on the evening news!

When I was growing up you weren’t allowed to say, “God dammit!” or “Jesus!” in an expletive manner because that was considered taking the Lord’s name in vain. While it is disrespectful I don’t believe that it is akin to transgressing one of the Big Ten. I am certain, however, that the God Hates Fags people have a lot to answer for by truly using the Lord’s name in vain. To vainly invoke and ascribe God’s name to something that is not of God is certainly the true context of blasphemy and a transgression of a commandment. The irony here is that I have done ill against my neighbor by calling them fuckers and assholes. Ahh, the gift of humility made manifest. The difference between my sin and theirs is that I know that I have done wrong and will address that with God. They stubbornly proceed by blaspheming the name of God and doing so with misplaced confidence. Maybe it is the sin of pride that keeps us in the dark. Maybe humility is the key to redemption and salvation. For without pride we can be searched and known by a loving God but without humility we stand ourselves up next to God. And when we stand toe to toe with the divine we’ll never see eye to eye with God.

PAX