https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
"How can you be sure,” I insisted, “…that God is not too well disposed towards LGBT people?"
“Ah, but of what can any of us be sure,” the cleric responded obliquely, “… but better to err on the side of caution, surely?”
I am reminded of a quote by Bertrand Russell: ‘Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.’
If subscribing to whatever religion makes a person happy, he or she should never let their sexuality undermine either faith or happiness. instead, embrace both, whatever socio-cultural-religious ethos we subscribe to...surely?
Regular
readers will know that, while I do not subscribe to any religion, but choose to
believe in Earth Mother, I have no problem as such with any religion, providing
that it demonstrates humanitarian principles towards Man and Beast.
In
the course of my 74 years, I have asked more than one cleric of more than one
faith what their religion has against gay people. Do they really believe, I
ask, that any God advocating peace and love could possibly be homophobic?
Christians
invariably quote Leviticus, regardless of the fact that it is Old Testament and
the New Testament all but makes that redundant.
The God of whom Jesus of Nazareth preaches is a God of love, a far cry from the
vengeful figure of the Old Testament invoking more fear than love. Sadly, the former
message seems to linger on around the world. Many a cleric I have spoken to has
been inclined to use God as a threat; i.e. Believe or go to Hell.
I
once put it to a cleric that no LGBT person should not feel alienated from any
religious path in spite of the likes of a certain Archbishop of Canterbury
saying he has no problem with gay people, even gay clergy, so long as they do
not practise sex. (For my part, I suggest that is tantamount to saying you can
lead a horse to water so long as you don’t let it drink.)
"How can you be sure,” I insisted, “…that God is not too well disposed towards LGBT people?"
“Ah, but of what can any of us be sure,” the cleric responded obliquely, “… but better to err on the side of caution, surely?”
I am reminded of a quote by Bertrand Russell: ‘Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.’
If subscribing to whatever religion makes a person happy, he or she should never let their sexuality undermine either faith or happiness. instead, embrace both, whatever socio-cultural-religious ethos we subscribe to...surely?
YOU-ME-US
REVISITED
I’m
walking through the seasons
of
my life, with you,
summer,
autumn, winter and spring,
no
matter what the weather,
come
rain, come shine, come mists;
you-me-us,
past-present-future
I’m
walking through the time lines
of
my life with you
by
day and night, by night and day,
no
matter love and loss,
come
tears of joy, come tears of pain
mind-body-spirit,
you-me-us,
I’m
talking through the raison d’être
of
my life with you,
all
sociology, politics and religion
expounding
views
hell
bent, like as not, on compounding
its
stereotypes and fake news
I’m
talking through the ups and downs
of
my life with you,
confidante,
counsellor and a best mate,
closer
even to alter ego
than
either history or contemporaneity
in
shaping its persona so
I’m
always savouring, the better things
in
my life with you,
taking
heart from the poetry of all nature
and
human nature,
its working, reworking and sustaining
you-me-us,
past-present-future
I’m
always trying to live by principles
of
my life with you,
taking
each day as it comes, though dark
or
sunny skies;
your death, my every pulse and heartbeat
this mind-body-spirit,
you-me-us
Copyright R.
N. Taber, 2020
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