Hate Is Not A Religion

It is not a new thing in the world for people to call and campaign for the death penalty for gay people 'as punishment' for being gay, although it certainly is fairly new on the political scene in South Africa.

 

Previously, cooler heads had always prevailed, and the notion of state-sanctioned murder was generally supported for capital crimes, like murder - and occasionally, wished upon rapists and the like. However, recently, there's been an emerging trend where religious extremists have grown more vocal about their hatred for 'the other' and began to vocalize their desire for those whom they despise to be put to death for simply being born gay or transgender.

This is a disturbing new trend among Christians, even those fanatical fundamentalists or literalists who for years restricted their efforts to pressing religious and social institutions and pressurizing government into making life as difficult for anyone who dared to deviate from the cisgender norms they held so dear. 

 

Their hatred for those who differ from themselves overflows and overrules common sense, logic and compassion for fellow human beings, and I can only attribute its arrival here to the heavy influence of the American religious right groupings who have overrun the US Republican Party, using the gay community as a scapegoat and rallying point to try and institute a theocracy in that country over the past 8 years - and certainly the dangers of mixing religion with politics can be seen in this. For many years, right wing fundamentalist "missionaries" have been coming to SA and assisting these groups under the guise of "church planting". The same has happened in other African countries, such as Uganda - and, well, we can see the culmination of those efforts for what they've delivered - in the form of the "Kill the Gays Bill".

Many groups have sprung up in SA which were inspired by and even named after US groups and who followed their lead in persecuting the pink community. In many cases even the rhetoric they espouse is supplied by the foreign groups. Sadly this ideology and fanaticism seems to have found a home in South Africa in the form of "ex-gay" groups and political parties such as the ACDP and CDA.

The dominionist movement (also known as 'Kingdom Now Theology' and 'reconstructionism' or 'reformationism'), which is at the root of most evangelical churches around the world and which originated in the USA, is founded upon the fallacy of "the great commission" which they have twisted to mean "let's take over the world tonight, Pinky. Narrf!"

Part of the warped doctrine at the root of this movement is the precept that ancient biblical laws predating even Christianity should be raised up as "moral law" in this country and included in every aspect of life including the privacy (not anymore) of people's homes. They also want to replace democracy with a theocracy (church as government). Part of this strange exaltation of the concept of Christian totalitarianism, is the execution of people whom they deem to be criminals - including among others, the whole pink community - a prospect which many of these people seem to look forward to with a great deal of excitement.

I'm not so sure if I find genocide that exciting, but essentially, that is what these people want. 

 

In fact these deranged fanatics want it so badly that they have in effect hijacked a whole religion as a vehicle to achieve it. It is quite ironic that those calling the loudest for "morality" in SA (and the USA, the source of this literal abomination) are the most immoral of all.

I've long given serious thought to how this frightening tide of hatred can be countered.

The more moderate religious figures we can get to rally against this narrow and twisted way of thinking, the better for human rights, equality and decency in this country. Moderate Christians need to rise up and take back their religion from the bigoted fanatics who have hijacked it.

There is no point in arguing with them. The truth is they KNOW NOTHING about being gay or transgender - which is evidenced by their irrational and illogical insistence that it is a choice. Nor do they know any loving god, nor compassion, nor love - they don't even view that version of "God" to be canon, but hold to a vengeful, violent and strict ogre. And neither do these people know anything - anything at all - about me.

They call me blind simply because they cannot accept the idea that the same god they believe made them, made me - and both of us as we are - in fact it is they who are blinded by the hateful ambitions of other people who have twisted biblical teachings into a hammer with which to smite down innocent people in injustice. It is they who have chosen death over life - and not just for themselves - but for others too.

If there is a god - what do they think he thinks of people who perpetuate the suffering of people whom he created as equals to themselves - and therefore loves equally? They should crawl under a mountain out of shame for their ill-conceived zealotry and un-Christian hate.

I know what is right and what is wrong - and what people like them say and do to gay and trans people is not right - and no amount of flowery prose and empty meaningless writings or warm tingly feelings in hollow churches will ever make it so.

Hate is not a religion.

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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.

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