My Sincerely Held Disbelief

In light of the fuss over a Chattanooga pizza place (Pizzeria Cortile) deciding to stand on prejudice then quickly being shown the door to the land of Find Out, it seems timely to take a look at some sincerely held beliefs.

Let’s start with the defense that most people use when trying to back up their anti-gay beliefs: that it is an ancient biblical tenet written in clear and indisputable language. First of all, that point should be irrelevant to anyone who does not practice their faith by that same set of beliefs. We have freedom of and from religion in this country. So believe whatever you want, you should not be able to make the rest of us follow your chosen beliefs in any way shape or form..

But since we’re here and people like to cherry pick the constitution almost as much as their bibles, let’s look at that. The word “homosexual” in American English translations of the Bible didn’t start appearing until the 1940s. In fact, it was American publishers who started selectively translating words and phrases that had previously been interpreted to mean child molestation, same sex prostitution, or ritualistic sex to simply “homosexual” in other languages in other countries. For example, that ever so coveted line about “man shall not lie with man as woman” was written in German translations as basically “man shall not lie with young boys” until those aforementioned American translators made their edits and started distributing them widely. 

Once the interpretation that those words meant men having sex with men instead of men molesting young boys, two things happened rather quickly. The idea that gay men are all sexual predators began to spread even moreso, and hate against queer people became even easier to sell to the masses. Discrimination, criminalization, institutionalization, exile, execution, excommunication, castration, lobotomies, electroshock therapy, conversion therapy–these are just the highlights of the cruelties and injustices that have roots in beliefs based on an intentional mistranslation that’s not even a century old.

This is the origin of the “gays are groomers” grift that has gained momentum in recent years. Despite the reality that churches and religious organizations have well documented cases of harboring, covering up, and even aiding child molesters in their ranks. Which makes the baseless accusations levied at innocent gay men and trans women as a whole especially horrible. By making queer people a scapegoat and boogeyman for people with genuine concern over the safety and well being of children, they deflect attention away from their own very real crimes and sins in exchange for a witch hunt against us.

It would be wonderful if our community ever saw a massive movement of Christians standing on sincerely held beliefs of charity to offer solace to troubled trans youth. A crusade to provide housing to queer kids who have been abandoned by their own god-fearing families would be truly admirable coming from a church taking in millions of untaxed dollars every year.  Yet we will never see such virtue offered to us on a large scale.

That’s not to say that there aren’t inclusive churches or Christians who themselves are queer or staunch allies for their own deeply held beliefs in a loving god. I think of Matt and Frances Nevels who became fierce allies after learning they would lose their son to AIDS. They chose to love and walk with their son in his final days and learned to love our community as few ever have. Though their church family turned their backs on them, they never lost their faith and used it as a driving force to be a support system for generations of LGBTQ people and their loved ones by founding the Chattanooga chapter of PFLAG. I think of Ken Carroll of the Rock MCC, a proud gay Christian man who was a beloved leader in the church and served for years as a faith community liaison to the Tennessee Valley Pride Board until he was taken from this world far too soon. I think of so many congregations, leaders, and allies in our community who use their faith to spread love and unity.

Their version of Christianity is not the loud self-serving hypocritical version which requires a war against other people to support its fervor. Their faith is humble and stronger than the fragile vanities of would-be Christian soldiers waging war against anyone not conforming to their ideals. There are those who build their faith on the rock of love and not the sand of cruel human manipulations of scripture.

Though I am not a Christian myself, I was raised in the Catholic Church. I still have a belief in higher powers and the guidance of my ancestors. But the Christian god is not mine. Nor is he the god of many many others. For that reason alone, we need to question and challenge any time anyone attempts to hold up a fistful of bad translations to justify discrimination. We cannot codify prejudice into law or ignore it because of anyone’s beliefs. People sincerely believe many awful and simply untrue things. 

There is also the objective truth that being discriminatory against people is wrong. Make peace with that and your beliefs if you can.