Last edited: February 06, 2005


Political Agendas Often Masked By Theology

Wilmington News-Journal, July 13, 2003
Box 15505, Wilmington, DE 19720
Fax: 513-382-4392
Email: njletter@newsjournal.com

It is not an uncommon view on these pages that people be respected for their religious conviction against homosexuality.

I wonder if the same respect would be begged for those with the view that women are the property of men? Should we be asked to regard the Underground Railroad and Abolitionist movement as morally wrong because of the biblical admonishment to slaves to honor their masters?

These may be unpopular notions, but I suspect they are still widely held. Could we not, in light of several generations of sufferance in this country, simply dismiss them summarily as illogical? I would not attempt to dissuade anyone from tempering their own behavior with wisdom gleaned from an ancient culture, but the laws with which we govern ourselves do not exist in a vacuum.

If I wanted to use the Bible to support a stated moral objection to tube tops, pork rinds, and baseball caps I certainly could, and with less a suspension of rational thought than it would take to refute the legitimacy of romantic love existing between two persons of the same sex. It is not a compromise to their own experience that morally indignant people seek to promote. It does surprise me that religious establishments and media as yet beyond the dictate of conservative ideologues will actually fuel the current cultural war in their reluctance to expose the hypocrisy of a political agenda masquerading as theology.

Could we not more courageously state that we dismiss the convictions of some against homosexuality for their inability to reconcile the lop-sided application of misinformation so as to resemble a rational argument, and reserve our respect for more genuine opinion.

—Peter Tupitza, Elkton, Md

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