The sports section of this morning’s L.A. Times reports that the content filters at a "Christian" website had a wee problem in reporting how a sprinter named Tyson Gay performed at the U.S. Olympic trials:
"It means a lot to me," the 25-year-old Homosexual said. "I’m glad my body could do it, because now I know I have it in me."
Genius. Apparently they still don’t like the word "gay" as slang for "homosexual" (their preferred word), since this is unfair to… um… words.
Fair enough — which is why I’ve placed "Christian" in quotes here.
There’s not one word in the Gospels criticizing homosexuality. Not one. There are two bits in the Old Testament (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) predating Christ by a few gazillion years, right where eating shellfish is condemned just as harshly. If these "Christians" really cared about their own holy book, they’d also be protesting outside of Red Lobster.
Complicating things, the original Hebrew in Leviticus 18:22 is unclear. There’s nothing close to an agreed-upon translation, and for anyone to proclaim that they know exactly what the words mean (not even to mention postulating them as the unquestionable word of a deity) is simply dishonest.
On the other hand, Leviticus 25:44-46 heartily endorses slavery, in terms way less ambiguous than other stuff. And Exodus 21:20-21 explicitly says it’s OK to beat the crap out of your slaves so badly they can’t work for a couple of days, as long as you don’t kill them.
Oy.