On behalf of whose God are you spewing hate?

I am, however, extremely wary of the kind of organized religion that makes sheep of so many people who are unable or unwilling to think for themselves. The kind of organized religion that tells me WHAT I can and cannot do, WHO I can and cannot love, and WHERE I’m going (heaven or hell) if I fail to do as I've been told.

Recent events have only strengthened my resolve on this issue. Last week, a hateful message was spray-painted on a banner placed on the front lawn of the Rosedale-Queen Mary United Church in the NDG-CDN borough.

The banner featured an adapted illustration of German artist Albrecht Durer’s Adam and Eve, proclaiming “If Jesus loved John than why not Steve and Adam and Anne and Eve?” It was purposefully placed there on May 17, International Day against Homophobia. Reverend Neil Whitehouse, the church’s pastor is openly gay. The sign stirred up controversy and angered some neighbours and by late last Friday someone defaced the sign and spray-painted “God hates fags” for all to see. The sign was quickly removed, but the debate keeps raging on.

I can’t help but wonder who these people were, why they felt that someone else’s sexuality was their business, why that declaration would anger them so much and why they felt that they –and they alone- spoke on God’s behalf. How do they know for a fact that God (to use their distasteful and crude vernacular) hates fags? What if he hates vandals even more?

While I understand that these homophobic graffiti artists do not necessarily represent the overwhelming majority of religious folks, please explain to me how I can read such a hateful, intolerant message and be convinced that religion can sometimes be anything but divisive and exclusionary.

When hate crimes like this take place, it completely exasperates me and the irony of a faith that does not allow for anything other than what you believe in, never fails to amaze me. Religion is supposed to preach love, but, in so many instances, somehow manages to breed hate, judgement and anger in so many people. Why?

Anyone who claims to have the market cornered on the truth behind your everlasting salvation or damnation, and who warns you that the only way to salvation is through themselves or their beliefs (what a coincidence!) makes me want to run away screaming.

Yesterday, a Kansas City doctor, who had been a long-time target of anti-abortion activists, was shot to death as he walked into services at Reformation Lutheran Church. A pro-lifer felt he needed to defend the sanctity of life and… kill someone… in a church. Am I the only one who sees a number of disturbing contradictions in this story? “When a man really believes that it is necessary to do a certain thing to be happy forever, or that a certain belief is necessary to ensure eternal joy, there is in that man no spirit of concession. He divides the whole world into saints and sinners, into believers and unbelievers, into God's sheep and Devil's goats, into people who will be glorified and people who are damned. ~ Robert Ingersoll, Some Reasons Why

I find that, too often, organized religion is severely lacking in that “spirit of concession.” Too often, organized religion uses people's faith as an excuse and a weapon with which to preach, judge, control, condemn, attack, scorn, guilt. For that, I can't and I won't blame God. I can only blame those who claim to represent him on this earth, those who claim to speak on his behalf.

Pop singer Rob Thomas, of Matchbox 20 fame, wrote a very insightful and extremely well-written blog entitled “The Big Gay Chip on my Shoulder” for The Huffington Post (www.thehuffingtonpost.com) this week and it concludes with this sentence. “Each of us has a short ride on this earth and as long as we stay in our lane, and don't affect someone else's ride, we should be allowed to drive as we see fit.”

While I never thought that I’d be quoting, of all things, a pop singer while writing a column about homophobia and intolerance, I feel that this line says it all and says it as succinctly and eloquently as I could possibly hope to say it. Stay in your lane, people, and drive as you please!