The sins of the Right

The author of the piece proudly upholding his values./ Michael Chmielewski

Fundamentalists may preach God, but they do not love Him with all their heart.

Author: Jason Chestney

The “Christian” fundamentalist movement is focusing so much on rolling back the pro-choice legislation, attacking women’s rights and the LGBTQ rights that I put “Christian” in quotation marks. While these people claim to be Christians, they are, in reality, homophobic and anti-feminist individuals that attempt to use Christ’s name in order to justify their own misogyny. These people may have read the Bible, but their own viewpoints have so influenced their perception of Christ that they end up missing His point. I think that these homophobic ideas stem from the flawed reasoning that being LGBTQ is a choice. From my Christian perspective, I believe God created each and every one of us. As a result, LGBTQ people were created because God wanted to say that our traditional conception of marriage is a gross oversimplification. These people are God’s way of showing that the Church needs to modernize and become more supportive of the LGBTQ community, as well as women.

I believe those churches and their members which limit a woman’s reproductive rights and openly discriminate against those who are LGBTQ are, in fact, violating the second of two Commandments :“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” There were no caveats after this commandment. No preconditions and entitlements but to love and share compassion for others no matter whom they are.

I find the parallels between the “Christian” right and the Biblical Pharisees to be exactly the same. Both discriminate against traditionally disadvantaged segments of society and react negatively against disagreement with their teachings. In addition, the stigma that surrounds marriage and LGBTQ rights seems to come primarily from those who claim to be devout Christians. This intolerance is what I believe causes many to leave Christianity and organized religion by causing a general perception of Christians being intolerant towards feminists and the LGBTQ community.

I think the main problem of Christianity is that the Christian Right preaches their narrow-minded view of Christianity, then attempt to force their view on the general population. I believe that this can only be harmful, and that to do it this way ignores the history of progressive thought. Christianity successfully spread throughout the Roman Empire because it offered hope to those who were socially disadvantaged by espousing a culture of equality and inclusion in incredibly unequal societies. In contrast, the fundamentalist Right, by attacking the socially disadvantaged, discriminating against LGBTQs, and espousing a “holier than thou” attitude, is driving people away from Christianity altogether.