Literal Interpretations

Somewhat further to the post on 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', last night I attended a gathering organised by the MUSC Gay-Straight alliance; it was the spring social and so a chance to mingle, and gossip, as well as enjoy some nice food and have a drink or two as well - essentially just what the doctor ordered after the trials and exhaustion of the run on Saturday morning. What was quite interesting is how in depth discussion got in general - with one topic of conversation frequently recurring being the whole issue of the Bible, religion and homosexuality. Now this is something that i have talked about quite a lot with friends and colleagues, and it's certainly something of interest. The main reason this came up from my point of view was that my friend Kellie had given me an email that was a reply written to a Dr. Laura Schlessinger - a radio personality over here who is rather obnoxious, very conservative and narrow-minded, and more often than not says things to be 'shocking' rather than for any moral reasoning behind them.

One of her central tenets these days is that any observant follower of religion could read the bible and see how homosexuality is not to be condoned in any way, shape or form. The writer of this email in reply to this gives the letter a gushing tone of thanks to Dr Laura for her clarification on such matters and then proceeds to ask her advice on other things mentioned in the bible. For example, one point says that the writer wants to sell his daughter into slavery as sanctioned in a particular book, asking Dr Laura's advice on what a fair price is these days. Ultimately, it's very funnny and highlights just how selective religion can be in picking and choosing what it's followers want to believe. Now, you may think from all this that i'm anti-religion. I'm not - i have a great respect for people who have a faith, as it's not something I have in that sense of the word (although i do have my own beliefs). I guuess my frustration is with the people who use religion as a means to an end, a tool for to justify their own actions or for their own purposes. Unfortunately, this day and age, I don't see it coming to an end anytime soon.