Would you be surprised if I told you that I received no fewer than a dozen e-mails asking me if I had read Sister Patterson’s sermon – replete with fire, brimstone and the omnipresent exhortations against homosexuality?
One email read, “Did you read what the lunatic wrote in yesterday’s DC?” Another person wrote, simply, “You gotta read the DC today.” My favorite was, “Make sure your breakfast is safely settled.”
A sampling of adjectives people used to describe the article included “disturbing,” “unbelievable,” “psychotic,” “irrational” and “scary.”
In spite of those overwhelmingly positive reviews, I wasn’t sure I wanted to read another irrational rant against homosexuality.
After all, I was still a little numb from the e-mail a law student sent me in response to my article last week, claiming that gay marriage would lead to cross-species marriage – the old Senator Santorum “gay marriage will lead to men and dogs getting married” argument.
Anyway, I decided that no one could come up with anything I haven’t heard or read before, so I broke down and read it.I wasn’t disappointed. Translated: Ms. Patterson didn’t write anything I haven’t heard before.
And there’s a simple reason: The biblical case against homosexuality is weak. After all, there are only a handful of references to homosexuality. God spends more time condemning usury (lending of money at exorbitant interest rates) than it does condemning gay sex.
It’s funny how I didn’t hear the “three men came to campus and proclaimed the unadulterated word of God” condemning the 390 percent interest rates in the so-called “payday” loan industry or the Republican politicians who refuse to pass legislation capping those rates.
And, yes, believe it or not, I did spend about three minutes listening to one of the sidewalk preachers.
And, everyone, especially Ms. Patterson, might be surprised to know that I told my students I had no objection to his preaching.
First, I really do give people more credit than you might think. I knew that 99 percent of students would be turned off by what they were hearing. Most of them, after all, had probably never heard a good old-fashioned tent revival preacher.
Second, I know that the majority of students aren’t really homophobic. All you have to do is spend a few minutes looking at Facebook.com to see that more than a few SMU boys don’t mind admitting that they are “bisexual,” which is code for “I’m not ready to come all the way out of the closet yet.”
Finally, I know that the sexual mores of most SMU students are such that they won’t stick around too long after someone screams, “You’re going to hell!”
But, back to Leviticus, the abomination of men lying with men and Paul’s internalized homophobia.
John Hodges, the senior religious studies major who responded to Ms. Patterson’s constitutionally guaranteed right to spill hate – disguised as religious expression – did as good a job as anyone responding to her disingenuous and intellectually dishonest rant.
If I sound harsh, may I suggest you re-read her column. In my defense, I never said she wasn’t sincere. Her sincerity was evident in the numerous WORDS WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS. The problem is that sincerity doesn’t make an irrational argument rational.
Perhaps here would be as good a time as any to reiterate that Ms. Patterson has every right to believe the way she does. Who can blame her? After all, she’s grown up in a country in which faith is confused with reason, and politicians are willing to sell their souls to religious zealots in exchange for their votes.
Who, after all, isn’t a little confused about what we’re supposed to believe about homosexuality? If you had been told your entire life that homosexuals were so vile that Satan must have created them, why would you have any reason to believe otherwise?
Think about it: These same people have succeeded in convincing supposedly educated people (people who sit on school boards are educated, aren’t they?) that 150 years of science (evolution) is junk, that dinosaurs never existed and that carbon-dating is wrong.
In the end, people who hate homosexuals will continue to harp on the same tired biblical passages – always in King James English – while totally ignoring everything that Jesus said.
Or did anyone not notice that Ms. Patterson didn’t mention Jesus once in her column?
George Henson is a lecturer of Spanish. He may be contacted at [email protected].
