Matt Walsh: You're Hurting People in the Name of Religion

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Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act has become one of the most controversial topics on social media. It thrives upon the First Amendment rights, yet it leaves some people feeling bitter and outraged about the underlining tones of feeling discriminated against. So for instance, if a gay couple wants to buy a cake for their wedding, they can be turned down. Ok, fine -- go to another baker who will do it. But is it really fine? Can they take their religious stance a bit further and discriminate against other people as well? They're setting us back 50+ years with this type of mindset.  So if 'this bakery' stands firm in their "freedom of religion" -- then so can the other bakery or florist down the road. Maybe a cafe wants to show their "freedom of religion" and ban gays and lesbians from entering their establishment too. Who knows -- the possibilities are endless. I've written about this before and I just feel like a broken record at this point. So instead of getting all political, I want to just touch upon how I feel as a lesbian woman living in this world.

It can be worse, right? I mean -- in some parts of the world, I can be put in jail or even killed for loving another person of the same gender. Some countries are really deprived on human compassion on so many levels. I realize that there are many dedicated Christian people out there that do not agree with gay marriage. And I'm not going to get into the scriptural parts of it because I have done that 1,286.334 times before. I know the bible because I rely on it. What it tells me tells someone else something entirely different. It's an endless argument of what's right and what's wrong. The argument never settles --ever. But what I will tell you is, sometimes when I hear of a privately owned business refusing to serve a couple who wants to share their life together, it just makes me feel so horrible. They haven't done anything malicious or evil to have had this type of treatment, or let's just say 'lack' of treatment. Yes, you have your right to refuse me. I'm okay with that. But what that tells me is that you are scared about your own afterlife. So, if you serve me, that means you're an "enabler" of homosexuality, which might get you a one way ticket straight into hell, right?

God loves me, this I know.
I have this amazing relationship with God. I have a somewhat messy life, I'm not perfect, I lose my temper sometimes, I don't do the right thing all the time -- and on some days, I don't even pray. But the one thing I am confident about is, God accepts me 'as is' -- flaws and all. He accepts me and my messy life. If I didn't have a messy life, I wouldn't need God to help me and to guide me to better decisions. It hurts me to even comprehend how another Christian person can judge me based on the person I love. Judge me for my behavior and actions. Judge me for the words that come out of my mouth. Judge me if I hurt you. I remember learning about how Jesus hung around with many sinners, like prostitutes, adulterers and tax collectors. He never pushed them away, but what he did do was show them love and compassion and shared his words of wisdom that were all from God Himself. He didn't make them feel bad about themselves about being human and living a life that wasn't suitable for Christians. He showed tolerance and patience. He knew how hard it was to be human, because Jesus was human Himself. He had empathy, which many of his followers lack.

If you are Christian and you do believe that this freedom of religion to discriminate, and yes -- it's to discriminate, is the right thing to do, then let me share or remind you of this story.
Jesus had left Judea to return to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon, a Samaritan woman came to draw water.
Jesus said to her, "Please give me a drink."
He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, "You are a jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?"
Jesus replied, "If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water." 
Is it that you don't believe God condones serving those who you may disagree with or who you're against religiously? Jesus Himself broke this "freedom of religion" and shared a drink of water with the Samaritan woman. She served him and he served her -- both on different sides of the spectrum. There were no differences -- only acts of kindness. It's confusing to me to see faithful Christians being so hurtful and using the Bible as well as laws in order to show their anger, their hatred and animosity towards those who are gay, lesbian and transgender. God even states that if you turn any one of His children away from God -- that this alone is the biggest sin of all. Whenever a Christian demonstrates hatred and lack of compassion, you are giving more fuel to set someone off the path of trusting God.

"How can a Christian be so mean?"

And so, they leave their Christian views behind to find a better suited god to worship. You may not think you're to blame by someone leaving their own faith by just not serving them a cake, but at the end of the day, the hurt and humiliation that they are feeling by being rejected as a good standing citizen leaves them with no hope for humanity, perhaps even no hope that God even loves them. Maybe there isn't a god...? Maybe, religion is just to create a more "moral" and "heterosexual" straight-laced community? People lose faith once someone who practices the same religion treats them like dirt. Can you imagine a well dressed, well behaved gay man walks into a bakery and kindly asks for a cake for his upcoming wedding, and the person asks them to leave and find another baker who will do it? Now think about if you walked into a Muslim-owned cafe and the owner happened to see a cross on your necklace. "I'm sorry, we don't serve Christians here." I guess that's his right too. Do you see where this is going?

"The owner has the right to not serve you. What makes you think that everybody should serve you?"

Because I'm a well behaved upstanding citizen whose money is green just like everybody else's. The other day, I had a few words with another blogger named, Matt Walsh. Some of his tweets were quite an eye-opener.

 Mar 27
Of course businesses should have the right to discriminate against gay people

 Mar 27
You want businesses to be compelled to serve you and your gay weddings.That's above and beyond what most people are afforded.

 Mar 27
if another sort of sinner asked them to participate in the sin itself, then I expect they would refuse

 Mar 27
We're not asking them to have sex with us. We're asking them to do what they do every single day: bake a cake.

These poor kids will learn how to hate before tying their own shoelaces.
There is no logic behind Matt's reasonings other than discriminatory viewpoints. On top of that, with that huge soapbox that you have, why not spread a positive message, or at least one that makes sense? Why not go against these hateful Christians who are practicing their prejudices in the name of religion? But you chose the conservative/popular side -- perhaps to bring in the masses. And you did well. I have never seen so many bigots come out of the woodwork. Behind the fine veil of this freedom of religion is bigotry -- a right to demonstrate your own discrimination towards the LGBT community. In an indirect way, you. are. hurting. many. people. What do you think will happen when your two beautiful twins grow up? They will learn what you teach them. They will learn all the good things, like how to ride a bike, how to tie their shoelaces, as well as how to hate those who are different from them. With that thought comes in mind the bullying that usually tags along with that sort of teaching. Will you take responsibility for your children's actions if they decide to discriminate against a boy or girl who is gay or lesbian in their school? How will you handle this sort of thing? Many of the LGBT community go through severe depression because of bullying. Many have actually committed suicide because of it -- because of feeling so horrible about themselves. Do you want to be apart of that?

Matt blogged about this issue recently and got a ton of positive feedback on his stance with Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. He's also very bigoted against the transgender community, making statements on his podcast such as, "Well, I wanna be a cantaloupe, I feel like a cantaloupe, but I'm not a cantaloupe." His controversial opinions leave many astounded by his audacity to hurt so many of the LGBT community.

I asked Matt one thing, but he avoided the question entirely. His conservative following started trolling me on Twitter, to which I had no interest to respond to that kind of hatred, but it made me realize how many people truly do hate the LGBT community who claim to be Christians.

One of the trolls stated:
"You are forcing them to go against their faith. not caring of what you do to others."
"You do you not realize you're discriminating against those business owners?"
"Real love is not wanting someone to spend eternity burning in hell. Hate is the opposite of."

 It must take so much energy to get fired up about something that has little or nothing to do with the person who is in the argument. They want to see the gays and lesbians out of their little bigoted state. They want to show their distaste for such "disgusting sinners". Well then, have at it. But there are repercussions by doing such a thing. Many companies and citizens are now boycotting Indiana for their poor judgment upon society. Now, they don't get to be served either.


Will God say this to you? 
Can you imagine God saying to one of these business owners, "Well done, son! You've turned away those filthy homosexuals and now you will be rewarded!" But as you can see with Jesus and the Samaritan woman -- Jesus was served by someone who wasn't supposed to serve him. In turn, he gave her much more than she imagined. And maybe one day, Jesus will walk into one of your 'anti-gay' establishments and order a cake. He'll say he's gay and you'll turn him away. It would be the ultimate test of love, to which you demonstrated none. Remember, God works in mysterious ways.

Be good to one another.

Alway.

For more of Deb's articles, please visit: www.debrapasquella.com or join her on Facebook and Twitter. Check out her cooking blog for some of her famous recipes!