Can I fit this on a counter-protest sign?
The Westboro Baptist nutter-butters are coming to Cal State Fullerton on Saturday. I'll probably have something better to do than join a counter demonstration but I have two ideas for signs I'd like to go with:
"Don't worry children, I'm a vegetarian, I don't eat babies."
and this one I don't think will fit on a sign:
The bible does say that a man sleeping with a man as with a woman is "To'ebah", usually translated as 'an abomination before God' (Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) - right after it says shaving or getting a haircut shouldn't be done (Leviticus 19:27), eating fruit from a young tree is bad (Leviticus 19:23), and having sex with a woman when she's having her period is a no-no (Leviticus 18:19). The Mosaic code also requires children who curse their parents to be killed (Leviticus 20:9), anyone who commits adultery to be killed (Leviticus 20:10), and the daughter of a priest who engages in prostitution to be burned alive (21:9).
Funnily enough, self-proclaimed Christians who rant on about how the Bible condemns homosexuality are usually clean shaven. Theologically, that's actually fine, since multiple passages in the New Testament say that Mosaic Law (the long list of dos and don'ts in Leviticus) doesn't apply to Christians (Romans 6:14; 7:1-14; Galatians. 3:10-13, 24-25; 4:21; 5:1, 13; 2 Corinthians. 3:7-18). Which is great and all, but nowhere in any of those passages in the New Testament does it say "except for that stuff about men sleeping with men - that's still a no-no".
So pick one - either the Mosaic condemnation of men sleeping with men was tossed out with the condemnation of shaving and the condemnation of eating fruit from a young tree and the requirement to kill your children when they curse you - or all of those things still apply and you're probably committing just as many abominations before God as the average male homosexual.
Also, these supposedly Mosaic verses are anything but clear. They certainly do not forbid all homosexuality. They may forbid anal sex between men, ritualistic sex in non-Jewish temples, or simply tell guys not to have sex with another guy in their wife's bed (which is something probably even Oscar Wilde would agree with).
Furthermore, while Judaism claims that these verses are Mosaic, they clearly are a later invention. So, you have some vaguely specified act that is declared immoral by a piece of text that was fabricated by priests long after the divine revelation from which it originally was supposed to come. What kind of authority do you think such a passage has?
And then, of course, there's the even more basic question why you think that humans even have any moral obligation to submit to God's authority, if a God as described in the Bible actually existed.
I hesitate to even write about them or any of the few but vocal, hate filled lunatics in this world because the best thing to do is not give them the attention they crave but a vow of non-violence prevents me from other impulses I might have towards such asinine negativity. Let this be my outlet. If you see any of 'em, offer to give them a hug. I think that is what they've been missing.