Refuse Aid To Gay Partners of Attack Victims, Minister Says
by Paul Johnson 365Gay.com International News Editor in Washington
(October 6, Washington) A fundamentalist minister says relief agencies should not assist the partners of gays and lesbians killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman and founder of Traditional Values Coalition, said the Red Cross and other relief agencies are being used by “the gay agenda”.
Sorry to have reproduced the above in the fashion I did, but I am unclear on how to link properly to the site I found this on (http://www.365.com - if anyone wants to read the entire article).
I posted it here 'cause “Mindless” seemed the most appropriate category available.
Well, this guy is another Fred Phelps in the making. Plenty of assholes out there, I suppose. Very sad.
You know, there are examples (real examples) of Christian compassion. What about the story of the Fire Chaplain who died in the rubble, while trying to give comfort to a dying fireman? (I am really sketchy on the details, I need to find a cite.) I mean, we can be here all day, tit-for-tat, going back and forth, finding good and bad examples of Christianity. Or any other religion or belief, for that matter.
As far as I know about Christianity (I am a Christian) the deal as I see it is- hate the sin, love the sinner. Also love thy enemies, and let he who is sinless cast the first stone.
Jesus did not spend time with the overly righteous and pious, he spent his time with corrupt tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, and such. He helped who needed helping, not the people who did not need or want help.
I can’t wait until these numbskulls go meet their maker and find out what real piety and Christian faith means. I wonder how many times God will have to explain it. You think total idiots like this can get it the first time, even when it’s coming straight from the lips of The Big Guy himself?
Fr. Mychal Judge, O.F.M. (“Michael” in most press reports, but apparently this is the spelling his family used) was a Franciscan friar who was a priest (Roman Catholic, of course) and who served informally as chaplain to the F.D.N.Y. His friary was directly across the street from one station, and it was his custom to cross over whenever the alarm sounded, give a pastoral blessing the firemen as they pulled out of the station en route to the fire, then go back, get his car, and join them at the site of the fire, where his clerical services were often in need by victims and occasionally by firemen.
He was, interestingly and apropos of the original point of this thread, a member of Dignity and a regular marcher in Pride parades, out to a majority of the gay community, and hence a member of that rare subspecies often cited in religio-sexual debates here, the celibate gay Christian.
Very true. Especially the part about the people who did not want help. I’ve heard it taught that the “poor in spirit” mentioned in the Beatitudes are those who realize that they have need of Divine help, and who seek it. Attitude goes a long way, apparently, even when it comes to God.
My mother has a peom tacked up on the fridge door that speaks to the issue of those whom we deem “worthy” of compassion. I think I can remember it mostly:
“Last night I dreamed Death came for me.
and Heaven’s gates swung wide.
With kindly grace an angel came
and ushered me inside.
And there stood folks I’d known on Earth
some I’d judged and labeled as ‘unfit, of little worth.’
Indignant words rose to my lips
but never were set free.
For every face showed stunned suprise
No one expected me!”