“It is difficult to get a man to understand something,” wrote Upton Sinclair, “when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” My brother is a Catholic priest, which means his salary depends on him being right about his religion more than understanding anyone who has a different perspective about his religion. Making matters worse, my brother has convinced himself that he and his religion are exactly the same thing. That means that any attempt to address any of the problems related to his religion, from inherent contradictions of killing the innocent as a form of “justice” to crucifixions and witch burnings and the threat of hell as forms of “love,” are therefore felt by him as personal attacks upon himself and his own moral fiber. His job, as a result, is to defend his own spiritual ego before every considering how his brand of religion is anything other than the infallible truth of love he needs and desires. For him, misunderstanding anyone else's perspective on his religion amounts to "divine understanding," as it is his job to defend his brand of religion. And defending his brand of religion is paramount to defending his own ego.
I grew up in a family that is about as homophobic as Phil Robertson and the Westboro Baptists, only they're not quite as boisterous about it; at least not in public anyway. They have also conveniently convinced themselves that their homophobia is really just their unique Christian ability to "hate the sin, but love the sinner" (even though these very same Christians adamantly refuse to accept that people can "hate Christianity, but love the Christian"). The sexual superiority complex necessarily relied on by such Christians is, of course, blanketed beneath the lambs wool of the Christian humility of serving "God." They interpret their fear of those who are different, in other words, as simply proof of their intimate knowledge and love of God. And the only thing such Christians are more sure about than that their own personal version of "God" exists, is that such a "God" would never want people to be homosexual - no matter how ma
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