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From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.politics
Subject: Religion and homophobia (Re: Ronald Reagan's Homophobic Career)
Message-ID: <100@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 29-Oct-84 10:30:44 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.100
Posted: Mon Oct 29 10:30:44 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Nov-84 07:12:19 EST
References: <1057@bbncca.ARPA> <2809@ucbvax.ARPA>
Organization: U. of Tx. at Houston-in-the-Hills
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>> From medin@ucbvax.ARPA (Milo Medin) Wed Oct 31 00:35:55 1984
>> 
>> Good Grief.  Cant you people ever realize that some of us have
>> religious feeling about homosexuality that is a valid reason
>> to fight against the 'normalization' of homosexuality?

There are people whose religious beliefs dictate that widows should be burned
alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands.*  There are people whose
religious beliefs dictate that blacks are inherently inferior and that racial
discrimination is justified.  There are people whose religious beliefs support
terrorism and holy war.

There are also people whose religious beliefs dictate that all men are
brothers, that we should love our neighbors as ourselves and that if we try
hard enough we can live in peace.

Religion can take many forms and can be an integral part of the best and the
worst in humanity.  When it works for the good, I believe in giving religious
belief the utmost respect.  But when it works for fear, hatred and oppression,
religious belief deserves only one thing: toleration.

I am willing to let you believe in your homophobic religion as you see fit,
but I'll be damned if I'll respect your homophobia merely because it is based
on "religious belief."

--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle

--------------------------
* No offense is intended to Indians on or off the net; I know that the
  practice of burning widows is essentially a thing of the past.  I include it
  only as an extreme example.