The Comment of the Weekend, continuing the conversation on homosexuality, has drawn a bit of response.  Larry and Panthera exchanged comments that hovered just on the border of civility and then, I’m afraid, crossed that border.  We join the conversation already in progress.

Larry:

The world was round, even though most ‘good Christians’ insisted it was flat,

Another lie, the church has never thought the earth flat, a round earth is a feature of Greek cosmogony, which predates Christ.

The heliocentric view of our solar system was and is correct,
even tho’ the fundamentalists of that day tortured those who dared to
speak the truth.

If you’re referring to Galileo, he was never tortured, just placed
under house arrest in his villa, I’m not justifying his treatment,
though it had more to do with Galileo being a jackass than with his
heliocentric views, but it fell far short of torture.

Blacks are the same humans as whites, equally loved of God…but
the fundamentalists used the same Bible to ‘prove’ otherwise as they
now do against homosexuals.

And no fundamentalist ever declared that blacks were less beloved of
God. Just as nobody, except possibly the Phelpsians, is saying that
gays are not loved by God.

Had Regan listened to doctors and not to the screaming, hateful
fundamentalists, we would have had a chance to stop it in its tracks.

How do you propose that Reagan (I assume that’s who your
talking about) could have done that? He, in fact, funded some major
research initiatives concerning the disease.

Today, of course, we know that heterosexuals are the major suffers and carriers of the disease.

Oh, please, you just can’t stop can you? Over half of the new
infections reported in the US are of gay men, given that gay men make
up maybe 1% of the population that is rather significant. The AIDS
retransmission rate among the straight, non-drug using, population is
less than 1. This means that the disease would die out among straight
population if it were not for reinfections from bisexuals and drug
users.

But it was first discovered amongst us homosexuals, so the
fundamentalists capitalized upon it, proclaiming it God’s justice upon
us.

Actually it was medical professionals who first christened it “WOGS”
(Wrath of God Syndrome), due to the populations that it strongly tended
to affect.

That is the same hatred we see here.

Rick Warren does not hate you, nor do the vast majority of
Christians, including fundamentalists. Maybe if you were to display the
same tolerance that you demand of others, quit labeling mere
disagreement as “hate” would be a start, there could be a genuine
dialogue and understanding. It would also help if you would stop
spreading inaccuracies about the church and what Christians believe.

Panthera:

Larry, I do so enjoy your outpourings of charity. You really let that Christian love burn right on through.

Since there is no possible basis for discussion with you, I’ll just
briefly correct a few of your assumptions regarding my posting to and
let it go at that.

Let’s see now. Well, if you were to actually read the Bible and not
merely cheery-pick for texts which justified your desires, you might
notice this passage in Isaiah 40:22, …God dwelling above the circle
of earth….

Circle, as in flat, not globe, as in round. Well, never mind. I do
acknowledge that there is considerable discussion on this topic and,
through rigorous research it may well be shown that most people didn’t
think the earth flat in the early Christian era. Still, it does rather
leave a bit of a problem with Isaiah, but no doubt you will find a way
to interpret that literally to fit your needs.

As for being tortured for disbelieving the geocentric view, well,
no, I wasn’t thinking of Galileo, actually, but of Giordano Bruno,
burned at the stake in 1600 after some six years in the tender mercies
of the Inquisition. Oh, right, revisionists now maintain that the Roman
Inquisition didn’t really torture, they merely applied methods of
“enhanced interrogation”. As you were reasoning deductively, it
suffices to show one case of disproof. Sadly, I could show many, many
more.

AS far as the conservative Christian perspective on blacks, I would
refer you to the Constitutional debates of 1787 regarding the 3/5
solution and how it arose. You are on very very shaky ground there,
though I suppose one might argue that your version of fundamentalist
hatred is rather more modern, the roots go very deep. Of course, the
Bible never says word one about homosexuality, either, so I suppose we
shouldn’t be too precise with our labeling…

I do apologize for misspelling Reagan’s name.

I am sure it is a great relief to all those non-American
heterosexuals dying of Aids in Africa to know that, in your country, it
is still quite a problem in the gay community. Your hatred really
shines through in your response, goodness.

I’m done with you. Your hatred has such deep roots, I wonder whether you might not be my brother in more than Christ.