Gay Reparations

[FireDragon76]

Absolutely.

Ok, but why do most religiously devout Christians seem to favor policies to the contrary? Even the Catholic Church has been known to fight local ordinances that prohibit discrimination.

 

[Elisha's Bear]

I think Canada is a good alternative, and seems to uphold the sort of values I believe in.

I hope your values include a deep affection for cold weather. lol

 

[Silmarien]

Whilst all the false religions of the world focus on this fleeting physical life and lusts of the flesh

Most world religions actually don't focus on the fleeting physical life and lusts of the flesh.

 

[FireDragon76]

I hope your values include a deep affection for cold weather. lol

Cold weather but warm-hearted people, in my estimation.

 

[Daniel C]

Most world religions actually don't focus on the fleeting physical life and lusts of the flesh.

Name some.

 

[FireDragon76]

Name some.

Having intimate familiarity with it... Buddhism, for one. Buddhists might actually see Christianity as highly carnal and worldly, potentially.

 

[grasping the after wind]

Ok, but why do most religiously devout Christians seem to favor policies to the contrary? Even the Catholic Church has been known to fight local ordinances that prohibit discrimination.

Which ones? Opinions can vary on whether a policy is correct or not even if neither side of the debate hates anyone.

 

[grasping the after wind]

Having intimate familiarity with it... Buddhism, for one. Buddhism actually would see Christianity as highly carnal and worldly.

I think that is correct. Christians aren't very spiritual.

 

[dzheremi]

Oh, I wouldn't say that it's because anyone is secretly gay. Quite the opposite, really, since at most it would mean that someone is slightly bisexual. It's a tricky subject, though, since as I pointed out above, "slightly bisexual" is really the norm for straight women, and I've never seen people seriously question their sexuality over it. My impression of men has been that they can feel threatened by the possibility that they're not completely and utterly straight, though you make a good point. It could be more complicated than that.

Well isn't there less sexual fluidity in men overall? This is not my area of study (I'm a linguist, not a sex researcher), but I have dim memories of reading something to that effect in an academic journal article (probably dealing with the sociolinguistic properties of 'gay speech' or 'gay accent', which is something we did a week on when I was in grad school).

That might explain what you've called the 'threat' of not being 100% heterosexual. Because most men are 100% heterosexual (or at least 100% heterosexual sexuality is statistically more common among men than women), perhaps they become worried because there is then something that separates them from the norm? Nobody likes being out on a limb, after all, and if they're not 'fully' gay then it is understandable that they might feel like they're in a bit of a (apologies for the unintentional pun) no man's land.

At any rate, yes, it is more complicated than it seems. My only point was to say that for mature, adult males the problem is not in recognizing that other men are good looking, but in comparison that makes us feel bad. We could be having the same conversation about salary, or housing, or marital status, or anything else, and some guy who has none of that would feel bad, and some subset of those guys would take it out on the world in 'homophobic' or otherwise concealing ways.

We don't want to admit that when we've failed, basically. You probably know all the old hackneyed jokes: men don't want to ask for directions, men don't want to read the directions to anything, men don't want to XYZ, etc. All of that is based in at least a grain of truth, and it extends to our interpersonal relationships with other men, too. We don't want to admit that someone has something (genetically?) that we don't. "Eh, he's okay...I mean, Leonardo DiCaprio...come on...he's kinda rat-faced, isn't he? And George Clooney is a boring old man." Okay, then. Thank you, ego. You can sit down now.

 

[carp614]

Why should a religion that preaches contempt for people I love and care about be something I should be OK with

This is demonstrably false.

Christianity does not preach contempt for people.

I honestly cannot imagine how you could make such ridiculous statement, a bold faced lie really, in this forum and expect to be taken seriously. Provide one piece of New Testament scripture the guides Christian to have contempt for people or come clean about your total ignorance of scripture.

 

[jacks]

You might also consider Australia. Better weather too...

As the United States and other countries

 

[grasping the after wind]

Well isn't there less sexual fluidity in men overall? This is not my area of study (I'm a linguist, not a sex researcher), but I have dim memories of reading something to that effect in an academic journal article (probably dealing with the sociolinguistic properties of 'gay speech' or 'gay accent', which is something we did a week on when I was in grad school).

That might explain what you've called the 'threat' of not being 100% heterosexual. Because most men are 100% heterosexual (or at least 100% heterosexual sexuality is statistically more common among men than women), perhaps they become worried because there is then something that separates them from the norm? Nobody likes being out on a limb, after all, and if they're not 'fully' gay then it is understandable that they might feel like they're in a bit of a (apologies for the unintentional pun) no man's land.

At any rate, yes, it is more complicated than it seems. My only point was to say that for mature, adult males the problem is not in recognizing that other men are good looking, but in comparison that makes us feel bad. We could be having the same conversation about salary, or housing, or marital status, or anything else, and some guy who has none of that would feel bad, and some subset of those guys would take it out on the world in 'homophobic' or otherwise concealing ways.

We don't want to admit that when we've failed, basically. You probably know all the old hackneyed jokes: men don't want to ask for directions, men don't want to read the directions to anything, men don't want to XYZ, etc. All of that is based in at least a grain of truth, and it extends to our interpersonal relationships with other men, too. We don't want to admit that someone has something (genetically?) that we don't. "Eh, he's okay...I mean, Leonardo DiCaprio...come on...he's kinda rat-faced, isn't he? And George Clooney is a boring old man." Okay, then. Thank you, ego. You can sit down now.

I tend to take sociological studies with a grain of salt and studies that rely upon people's impressions of themselves with a whole shaker full. People fool themselves and don't tell others things they do not want to them to know. So research that concludes that heterosexual men are more heterosexual than heterosexual women may just be a matter of men or women either with the researchers or with themselves not being truthful about the subject. I'm not saying it is the case but it might be.

 

[Silmarien]

Name some.

Hinduism. If you read the Bhagavad Gita, there are some pretty strong warnings against focusing on the material world. That's how you get reborn as a worm.

I'd also say Islam, given the complete prohibition on alcohol, but Islam can be a little self-contradictory about... well, everything, unfortunately, so it's hard to say for sure.

 

[Daniel C]

Having intimate familiarity with it... Buddhism, for one. Buddhists might actually see Christianity as highly carnal and worldly, potentially.

Buddhists don't believe in the eternal soul of mankind, so that is a fleeting temporal life.

Christianity says we all have an eternally soul and all the souls are destined for a place. At the final judgement.

 

[durangodawood]

This is demonstrably false.

Christianity does not preach contempt for people.

I honestly cannot imagine how you could make such ridiculous statement, a bold faced lie really, in this forum and expect to be taken seriously. Provide one piece of New Testament scripture the guides Christian to have contempt for people or come clean about your total ignorance of scripture.

I dont think so. You dont find grounds for contempt in scripture. But many other Christians sure do.

 

[grasping the after wind]

Buddhists don't believe in the eternal soul of mankind, so that is a fleeting temporal life.

Christianity says we all have an eternally soul and all the souls are destined for a place. At the final judgement.

Being spiritual and possessing a soul are not interchangeable ideas. I currently possess a soul yet I have no use for spirituality at all.

 

[grasping the after wind]

I dont think so. You dont find grounds for contempt in scripture. But many other Christians sure do.

People always find what they are determined to find. Whether it is there or not.

 

[jacks]

If you look at the statistics from post 111, you will see it is mostly the "Christian" countries that are most tolerant of homosexuality. Hindu countries are particularly intolerant.

 

[Elisha's Bear]

Cold weather but warm-hearted people, in my estimation.

Yep, and from there you can still benefit from the values of U.S. trade and defense, which frees them up to provide state-funded Healthcare. Whoopee! You've got it made!

 

[FireDragon76]

Buddhists don't believe in the eternal soul of mankind, so that is a fleeting temporal life.

Buddhism doesn't have just one view like that. The most popular form of Buddhism is about rebirth in the Pure Land, a place of ultimate happiness.