JiM's Dreams

Snagged from kadymae and Taselby

I am the mother who told her lesbian daughter to invite her girlfriend over for dinner.

I am the father who punished his son for calling you a fag.

I am the preacher who told my congregation that love, not hate, is the definition of a true follower of God.

I am the girl who did not learn the meaning of "homosexual" until high school but never thought to question why two men might be kissing.

I am the woman who argues (quite loudly and vehemently) with the bigots who insist that you do not have the right to marry or raise children.

We are the high school class who agrees, unanimously, along with our teacher, that love should be all that matters.

If you agree, repost this. Do it. You don't have to be afraid. You can handle it. You're stronger than you think.

I am making a difference. Hate will not win.

As the Jewish New Year draws close, it inspires a mood of reflection. As the rest of the culture continues merrily on its highway to Hell, it inspires in me profound irritation for all didactic and fundamentalist idiocy. So, I guess you could say that my mood is one of irritated and militant reflection.

As a person of faith, the folks who use the "faith" card while arguing about the addition of so-called "Intelligent Design" theory to science curricula make me crazy. My husband brought up a terrific point; they never use the more reasonable arguments of science's own past failings in the areas of scientific dogma later proved to be garbage. Consider eugenics; remember lobotomies for all and sundry; remember when the atom was the smallest unit of matter? One could go on and on about now-exploded theories of science that were once considered fact. These could be considered logical arguments against claiming that evolution is the sole answer to how humans got to be here in our fine state of advancement and enlightenment.

But NO.

Instead, we get arguments about how "it says so, right in the Bible and that's the TRUTH." Oh, well that's all settled then. Because no one has ever actually been able to trace the differing writing styles in the text of the Hebrew and determine that there could be as many as five different authors from a wide variety of periods, each with their own political agenda. Nope, it's the Word of God. No matter that God changes "His" mind within the text a number of times. Doesn't matter that God says and does thing that sound a lot more like a bratty 6 year old (check out Exodus in the late chapters) and demands and orders things that I cannot possibly reconcile with the (admittedly) later concept of a just and merciful God.

No, instead of logical arguments, we get pseudo-scientific crap about humans and dinosaurs living together and the complete illogical rejection of a fairly well-researched theory with the moral equivalent of "La,la,la!"

Makes a person almost embarrassed to be a person of faith.

I presume my take on those who claim that God hates homosexuals is obvious (insert militantly liberal live-and-let-live rant here).

So, here are my resolutions for the New Year:

1) I will be a loud voice for people of faith who have not got their heads stuck up their asses regarding the rights and lives of others;
2) I will continue to be a militant believer in peace (despite being a gun owner);
3) I will continue to observe Banned Book Week publicly and push dangerous works of literature on children and others (including the Bible) in an attempt to convert more people to become People of Faith Who Have Not Got Their Heads Stuck Up Their Asses;
4) I will become knowledgeable about the School Board races in my town and vote for candidates who encourage educators to pursue knowledge, not religious agendas;
5) I will try not to swear as much.

I may need some help with the last one...