I generally steer clear of religious topics. I am a non-religious person and I realize that I am in the minority here. I respect my friends’ beliefs, their religious choices, but I do not share them for a number of reasons. I am a realist who, since around the age of three, needs to see to believe. That said, having been raised in a Jewish/Catholic household, I know a little about both religions, and having been married to a Protestant Christian for 15 years, I know a little about those beliefs as well. That said, what I read yesterday caused my jaw to drop to the floor, though perhaps it shouldn’t have.
The Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday ousted its second-largest congregation — Saddleback Church, the renowned California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren. Why? Because that church had the audacity to have a woman pastor!!! Le GASP!!!! Perish the thought! Everyone knows that women belong in the kitchen cooking meals for their beloved husbands, else barefoot and pregnant, bringing more little ones onto a planet that can barely sustain those it already holds!
If you felt the earth move under your feet last night, it was likely Susan B. Anthony and other suffragettes rolling over in their graves!
The “Executive Committee” of the Southern Baptist Convention also voted to oust five other congregations — four over the issue of women as pastors and one over the issue of sexual abuse.
The grounds for this misogynistic decree putting women once again into a subservient role? When Southern Baptists last updated their official statement of belief — The Baptist Faith and Message — in 2000, they added this clause: “While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
And then there’s this that I found on Diane Ravitch’ blog …
Pensacola Christian College canceled a six-man group of acapella singers because it had reason to believe that one of the singers was gay. The concert was cancelled two hours before it was scheduled to begin. An audience of more than 5,000 people was expected. The group had performed there in the past. Actually, the group acknowledged that two singers were gay. Why the College found it objectionable to hear a gay man (or two) singing in an ensemble is not clear. Did college officials worry that the sound of his voice might turn students gay? It seems likely that the bigoted Governor DeSantis has lowered the standards of civility across the state.
So much bigotry, so much hate … these are just two examples, but similar discriminatory practices are taking place everywhere we look – in our own government, in schools, businesses, restaurants. Crimes against women, against the LGBTQ community, against Blacks, against Jews are in the news every single day. Here are just a few headlines from the last day or two:
Bigotry has become the mantra for the Republican Party and their rhetoric fuels the flames of the masses who seem incapable of thinking for themselves. I’m disgusted by this nation. Yes, there are good people here, just as there are everywhere, but they seem to be in the minority some days.
It is depressing to see a nation so divided by the very thing that should unify it: diversity. It makes one want to pull the covers up over their head in the morning and refuse to face another day. But then, if we all did that … who would fight the bigots? Sigh.
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