'Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness'
Most Americans will recognize this phrase from the Declaration of Independence. It declares that all people have that right. Our Constitution also guarantees freedom of religion with no religion having preference in government. Unfortunately, significant coalitions of Christians do not want to share those freedoms with other people.
Most of us are painfully aware of the thousands of children who have been sexually abused in the Catholic Church for many years and the cover up by the church, even to the extent of protecting and reassigning the offenders to other unsuspecting parishes. But, that has now been exposed to the public. Protestants have also been publicly exposed in those same abuses and cover ups in their congregations, youth groups, church schools, and orphanages. The number of Christian leaders who will stand up and speak out against these abuses within the church is pretty close to zero. But, when it comes to what they view as sexual immorality outside the church the cacophony of voices is deafening.
The hate, fear mongering, and bigotry directed at LGBT people has been loud and constant for hundreds of years, especially in America since most of the witches were killed off. Many LGBT people have been killed by Christian-inspired hate and fear. Others have committed suicide because of shaming and bullying and some still live in fear.
Yes, there are good, bad, and evil people in all groupings of humans but some Christians do not understand that most LGBT people do not actually choose to be trapped in that sexual orientation. Although the science of biology has yet to identify a specific cause of this phenomenon, there is strong evidence that it's not a result of choice. It's an observable fact that more than a thousand animal species engage in wide spread homosexual and bisexual activities. They either evolved this way or God did it. It was not consciousness of choice.
Recently, the California Legislature passed a non-binding resolution (simply their opinion), asking, in effect, for religious leaders in the state to help protect the right of LGBT people to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by showing them respect. This was met with a barrage of false and misleading condemnations under the guise of "Religious Liberty" across the nation.
Oren Piper
Siloam Springs
Editorial on 03/11/2020