I wonder if I might make a comparison with homosexuality and disability.
As there are for homosexuality (or certain acts, whatever.. not the point), there are verses/passages in the Bible which (seem to) speak against disability. For one, only those that were healthy were allowed in the temple, I believe it was (and lots of stuff in the OT about getting certain illnesses and how those illnesses prove sinfulness, stuff like that).. and when Jesus healed the paralytic before he said "take up your bed and walk", he said, "your sins be forgiven." These imply (or say) that disability is sinful. (And don't even get me started about how many people take the "renewing of your mind" bit as ammunition against those with cognitive disabilities.) Of course, when asked who sinned to afflict the man who was blind from birth, Jesus said that no one did.. still, it does show the people thought someone must have or else they wouldn't have asked the question.
If a person with a disability went into a church and as soon as the pastor knew about it, they decided to insert a bit about disability being sinful before God and disabled people should repent and turn from their sinful ways and be healed.. Or if someone took them aside privately and suggested that God might not take away the disability, but they needed to cut out the expressions thereof. The blind lady should choose not to use a cane or a guide dog and the mildly autistic young man might just be acceptable to God if only he'd stop stimming. Basically, that they should give up their "disabled lifestyle" (if I may) and live like God wants people to live. Any such thing would lead a person with a disability not to want to go to that church again, I would think.. and maybe turn them off Christianity (or even religion as a whole) entirely.
(For you who think homosexuality is sinful, particularly those who think homosexuality is an illness.. I hope you treat it as one.. understanding that a person with an illness or condition is a person and deserves every bit of rights and respect that you do. (It's violating any of those that I think would make a bigot.) I respectfully suggest that if you think it's sinful, keep your mouth shut about that. You might could say something like, "I don't think God wants people to be like that, I don't think it's perfection and holiness embodied, but I know that God accepts everyone just as they are -- and I'm not perfect, myself!" I'm not sure, but I think that would be fairly acceptable to a person who thinks homosexuality is fine or that they're not disabled, just different.)
If there is a homosexual agenda, there is a disabled agenda.. and they're about the same thing. Acceptance, equal rights, equal respect as persons.. that kind of thing. There are disability rights advocates fighting for employment rights, accessibility.. and more than that, trying to change people's impressions of disability and disabled people. The disability rights movement is further ahead in the US than the gay rights movement is.. but at one point in the US, disability rights advocates were fighting for the right to marry and the right to keep their reproductive abilities. (The US was practicing eugenics before Germany got started with it.) And there are still people fighting against disability rights, believe it or not.. Accessibility cost too much, they are disabled, it's not their problem. Disabled people, oh those poor invalids.. they deserve our pity, not our respect. And there are more incidents of abuse against people with disabilities than just about any other group. Teasing is rampant in school and somewhat otherwise.. (just about as many things as are called gay are called retarded.. and a lot of people didn't and don't know where the term "spaz out" comes from). And people with hidden disabilities often have people tell them they aren't disabled when they disclose that. The disability rights group still has a way to go.. as does the gay rights group.. Both groups still don't have the right to live just anywhere (at least de facto).. and gay rights is still working on winning the right to gain and hold employment. Both fight the war against insidious discrimination in the community, trying more than anything to get the community to understand they are people just as those they're speaking to are.. that they deserve rights and deserve respect. Disability does not define the whole of a person and neither does sexuality. The larger community has yet to learn those lessons.
Ah.. just an aside.. the disability rights movement has no interest in adding to the numbers of people with disabilities (except by generally being vehemently against selective abortion against disabilities, particularly completely survivable/livable ones.) I suspect the gay rights movement is the same. It's not that either group wants everybody to be like them.. it's just that they want the equal rights, respect and acceptance as persons that most people seem to get.. and that they don't.
The disability rights movement and the gay rights movement have a lot of things in common as the respective groups face or have faced similar prejudices. And both groups, gay people and disabled people, can have verses thrown at them saying they're sinful, against God, etc (and this isn't the best thing to do). But both groups, as all people, deserve equal rights, respect, and acceptance as people. If you can agree that this is true for disabled people, I think you ought to be able to consider it true for homosexual people (or vice versa). If you can't agree this is true for either group, then I'd say you have both left to work on.
I do hope I have offended anyone with this post and I hope I'm forgiven for it being long and rambling. I'm aware that is section is "debates on homosexuality". I don't know what might be debated of this, but given what I've seen here, I would be very surprised if no one found anything to argue.
God bless.
As there are for homosexuality (or certain acts, whatever.. not the point), there are verses/passages in the Bible which (seem to) speak against disability. For one, only those that were healthy were allowed in the temple, I believe it was (and lots of stuff in the OT about getting certain illnesses and how those illnesses prove sinfulness, stuff like that).. and when Jesus healed the paralytic before he said "take up your bed and walk", he said, "your sins be forgiven." These imply (or say) that disability is sinful. (And don't even get me started about how many people take the "renewing of your mind" bit as ammunition against those with cognitive disabilities.) Of course, when asked who sinned to afflict the man who was blind from birth, Jesus said that no one did.. still, it does show the people thought someone must have or else they wouldn't have asked the question.
If a person with a disability went into a church and as soon as the pastor knew about it, they decided to insert a bit about disability being sinful before God and disabled people should repent and turn from their sinful ways and be healed.. Or if someone took them aside privately and suggested that God might not take away the disability, but they needed to cut out the expressions thereof. The blind lady should choose not to use a cane or a guide dog and the mildly autistic young man might just be acceptable to God if only he'd stop stimming. Basically, that they should give up their "disabled lifestyle" (if I may) and live like God wants people to live. Any such thing would lead a person with a disability not to want to go to that church again, I would think.. and maybe turn them off Christianity (or even religion as a whole) entirely.
(For you who think homosexuality is sinful, particularly those who think homosexuality is an illness.. I hope you treat it as one.. understanding that a person with an illness or condition is a person and deserves every bit of rights and respect that you do. (It's violating any of those that I think would make a bigot.) I respectfully suggest that if you think it's sinful, keep your mouth shut about that. You might could say something like, "I don't think God wants people to be like that, I don't think it's perfection and holiness embodied, but I know that God accepts everyone just as they are -- and I'm not perfect, myself!" I'm not sure, but I think that would be fairly acceptable to a person who thinks homosexuality is fine or that they're not disabled, just different.)
If there is a homosexual agenda, there is a disabled agenda.. and they're about the same thing. Acceptance, equal rights, equal respect as persons.. that kind of thing. There are disability rights advocates fighting for employment rights, accessibility.. and more than that, trying to change people's impressions of disability and disabled people. The disability rights movement is further ahead in the US than the gay rights movement is.. but at one point in the US, disability rights advocates were fighting for the right to marry and the right to keep their reproductive abilities. (The US was practicing eugenics before Germany got started with it.) And there are still people fighting against disability rights, believe it or not.. Accessibility cost too much, they are disabled, it's not their problem. Disabled people, oh those poor invalids.. they deserve our pity, not our respect. And there are more incidents of abuse against people with disabilities than just about any other group. Teasing is rampant in school and somewhat otherwise.. (just about as many things as are called gay are called retarded.. and a lot of people didn't and don't know where the term "spaz out" comes from). And people with hidden disabilities often have people tell them they aren't disabled when they disclose that. The disability rights group still has a way to go.. as does the gay rights group.. Both groups still don't have the right to live just anywhere (at least de facto).. and gay rights is still working on winning the right to gain and hold employment. Both fight the war against insidious discrimination in the community, trying more than anything to get the community to understand they are people just as those they're speaking to are.. that they deserve rights and deserve respect. Disability does not define the whole of a person and neither does sexuality. The larger community has yet to learn those lessons.
Ah.. just an aside.. the disability rights movement has no interest in adding to the numbers of people with disabilities (except by generally being vehemently against selective abortion against disabilities, particularly completely survivable/livable ones.) I suspect the gay rights movement is the same. It's not that either group wants everybody to be like them.. it's just that they want the equal rights, respect and acceptance as persons that most people seem to get.. and that they don't.
The disability rights movement and the gay rights movement have a lot of things in common as the respective groups face or have faced similar prejudices. And both groups, gay people and disabled people, can have verses thrown at them saying they're sinful, against God, etc (and this isn't the best thing to do). But both groups, as all people, deserve equal rights, respect, and acceptance as people. If you can agree that this is true for disabled people, I think you ought to be able to consider it true for homosexual people (or vice versa). If you can't agree this is true for either group, then I'd say you have both left to work on.
I do hope I have offended anyone with this post and I hope I'm forgiven for it being long and rambling. I'm aware that is section is "debates on homosexuality". I don't know what might be debated of this, but given what I've seen here, I would be very surprised if no one found anything to argue.
God bless.
