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[personal profile] crabby_lioness
Ric Santorum, a Republican presidential candidate who is not afraid to admit in front of a national audience that he doesn't understand the difference between a dog, a child, and an adult, or between a parental relationship and a marital relationship, has said some incredibly offensive things about gay married couples.  So offensive, in fact, that it's possible many people have missed his other offensive statements against straight married couples.

Ric Santorum opposes birth control even when used by married couples because it is "disrespectful" of women and families and so "hurts" women and society.  Think about it.  If a particular straight married couple honestly decide that they would make terrible parents and choose not to have babies and not to inflict their complete lack of interest in children or child-rearing on the next generation, Santorum thinks they are being "disrespectful" of children and families.  Really.

More commonly, if a married couple who want to have children choose to delay pregnancy for a few years in order to increase their own maturity and/or achieve a more stable financial base for their family, Santorum thinks they are "disrespectful" of women and families.  Honest.

Or if a married couple with children decide to limit the number they have so they can spend more time parenting the offspring they've already got, Santorum believes they are "disrespectful".

It's worth noting that the reason birth control was sought after in the first place was to prevent married women from dying in childbirth after their uterus ruptured from too many pregnancies, a horrible but common occurrence 100 years ago.  Santorum apparently thinks dying in childbirth is more "respectful" to women than living to care for the children they already have (or doing whatever else they choose to live for).

Of course without birth control more married women would die in childbirth and leave behind more orphaned children, significantly raising the number of single parent households in America.  Their surviving children would suffer all the problems associated with being brought up in a single parent family; but hey, they would belong to "respectful" single parent families!  Better be brought up in a "respectful" single parent family where the mother died trying to give birth than to be raised by two loving parents who "disrespected" the mother by not risking her health.

So to all the gay people upset about what Santorum has said about gay couples, You Are Not Alone.  Santorum doesn't just hate all gay married couples.  He hates all married couples, period.  There's only one thing you can say about a man who tries to win the Presidency of a country where over 90% of people marry with such an attitude.  Jesus, what a moron.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-01-09 07:04 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] qara-isuke.livejournal.com
I agree, that really does sum it up. There is SO MUCH good there, and Jesus was perhaps one of the most amazing people to have ever lived. Regardless of whether or not you believe he was God/the Son of God, he stood up for the common decency of all. He stood for good things, and was not afraid to die for it. Too bad his message has been twisted and perverted for two-thousand years by people claiming to follow him.

Faith should be something that makes you a kinder, better person. It shouldn't be about feeling superior to others, or looking down on them. It should be about comforting a stranger when they cry, offering to help someone in need without strings attached, having a smile for the people you meet, and just generally.....countering all the negative in the world with a little bit of hope.

Not fire and brimstone.
Not sneering down your nose at others.
Not forcing someone to believe as you believe.
Not using your faith as a weapon.
Not deciding that anyone who is less fortunate is that way because they suck and deserve it.
Just....not putting more negative into the world.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-01-09 09:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crabby-lioness.livejournal.com
Have you read Jack Spong? He's a retired Episcopalian Bishop who has written several books on how to interpret the Bible for modern times and using modern historical evidence. He believes Jesus was the adopted Son of God, that the real miracle was his life and his teachings, and that we should not be shackled to the more barbaric interpretations of the past. He is a champion of a liberal, progressive Christianity; and receives regular death threats from Fundamentalists. Every book he's written that I've read I enjoyed immensely.

http://johnshelbyspong.com/about-bishop-spong/

(no subject)

Date: 2012-01-09 09:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] qara-isuke.livejournal.com
Just reading one of his sample essays, I have to say....yeah, he seems pretty damn amazing. Thank you for sharing. I had not heard of him, but I like what I am seeing now.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-01-09 10:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] crabby-lioness.livejournal.com
You're welcome. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-01-09 11:16 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] swordznsorcery.livejournal.com
Desmond Tutu is worth seeking out as well. It's not so easy to find his work online, as he tends to write books instead. He's not very tech savvy! Here's a couple of short pieces of his that make good reading though:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/sep/25/charter-compassion-tutu-armstrong

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/desmond-tutu/god-is-not-a-christian_b_869947.html

He's quite old now, and can be quite old fashioned in some ways, but in others he's strikingly liberal, and refreshingly pro-all-faiths, despite being a Christian bishop. He's pro-gay, too. It was lovely to hear him speaking along those lines on TV a few years back. Makes such a change from those who use their faith as an excuse to hate. He's another one who warns against literal interpretation of the Bible as well.

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