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Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Discrimination, conviction and hypocrisy?

Discrimination:


Let's be honest, accurate and civil please. The part of the quote that has been eliminated is as follows: "Thus, the story added that the owners said they "would serve anybody who came into the restaurant regardless of sexual orientation, but drew the line at weddings" because of their religious convictions." This states in effect that they would serve a gay dinner, a gay birthday party etc. Is it even possible to believe that they honestly don't have any animus towards gay people whatsoever but simply are uncomfortable with supporting a specific function that blatantly flies in the face of their religious doctrine? Is it not even possible to imagine  that the could be speaking without hostility? That does not sound like hate or bigotry to me. That sounds like a legitimate boundary they've set for themselves as a business. It also sounds like the same boundary that many businesses have set for themselves because of their religious convictions.



Conviction:


As a professional musician, I've made decisions as to the content of what songs I would personally sing or perform with the band that I lead. This is NOT a condemnation of anyone. This is not hostility against anyone. This is not my attempt to change anyone else's playlist. This is me saying.  This is me following my convictions.
I'm a huge Prince fan. He's a musical genius. I owe a large portion of my musical existence to his influence. But I can't sing large portion of his catalog. I can't when I have a choice participate, I can't celebrate certain songs because of my religious convictions. (For that matter, there are many of his own songs he doesn't perform anymore for the same reason.) Likewise, I love Sting but there are Sting songs I cannot sing. These matters are difficult for me but that's my conviction. In fact, aside from anything directly work related I have a personal rule on listening to secular vocal music on Sunday. That's my personal way of "Remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy." That means I discriminate against the third person in my musical trinity on Sundays by not listening to the few secular songs by my favorite gospel artist, Fred Hammond.                                                                      So, please, please don't assume hatred or bigotry is at the                                                                                          heart of every discriminating action.                                                                                           Religious conviction is real and legitimate.



Hypocrisy:

 By forcing people to conduct themselves in a manner inconsistent with their beliefs are we not forcing them into being something we Christians are constantly being accused of? Hypocrisy.

Memories Pizza was sought out and ambushed with a hypothetical question. Then their answer was truncated. They said they would serve anyone regardless of their sexual orientation. Only when it came to an event that they felt would force them into a position of condoning and celebrating an event they do not support did they state that they could not participate. If the scenario was posed "Will you bake my adultery party cake?" they would have given the same answer. (And of course, adultery is generally lived out in secret or at least is not typically a celebrated event. But IF asked they would have given the same answer.) Separate issue that it is,
 there is no adultery lobby to contend with. No one , outside of Hollywood, is trying normalize adultery, so to speak. And there isn't a big push to make it adultery equally accepted, legally protected and universally celebrated by everyone regardless of their values. This is not about hate. It's about being able to maintain ones values as the practice their business. It's about the right to not be a hypocrite. 

Friday, April 3, 2015

Problem no problem?



From NBCNews.com...




Kenya Attack: Al Shabab Targets Christians at Garissa University College

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kenyas-garissa-university-attacked-masked-gunman-breakingnews-com-n334386




Is it time to admit there may be some issues in Islam yet? Islam is the only religion with even a small percentage of their population committing wholesale slaughter around the globe and targeting everyone that has a different worldview. This stretch of time it's Christians in their crosshairs. It's ALWAYS the Jews. Many proclaim death to America and Israel. You don't even want to know what happens to gays for being gay and women for running afoul of Sharia law. This is current AND expanding. Of course, it's not all Muslims by any means. But there are considerable fewer if any Christians, Jews etc currently dedicated to commiting genocide. (Please let me know if I missed some other group religious or otherwise that is slaughtering people. In the name of their God or for any reason.) And they don't seem to be of a mind to stop or even pause to talk about it. I seriously think there might be something wrong going on in at least some small portion of the Islamic community. And that small portion is growing while whittling other populations down to size.