Fairness - The Commentary

Probably the most used basis for justifying discrimination, whether it’s against LGBTQ people or others, is the appeal to religious claims. But is religion any more than a scapegoat to hide everything else? And is arguing that it is responsible a colluding with the discriminators? There certainly must be something emotionally satisfying, though, for many people in arguments about religion - whether they’re for “it” or against “it.” Beyond the strategies of politicians who prey on religious prejudices, people argue passionately, existentially, and obsessively about whether religion or Christianity, Islam or another ism, does, causes, or even “is” one thing or another. These arguments have sharpened and become more mainstream through the 24-hour cable news cycle that exploits terrorist attacks committed by people hiding behind religion and the fear-based politics of the right-wing politicians who dominate one of the American political parties. Talk radio and religious bigotry have also f...

You’d think after studying religions around the world that I’d have formed some definite ideas about the afterlife. But, alas, I haven’t. And I know that I’m in good company – some of the religious leaders that I admire and talk with who are attached to certain traditions seem to be just as vague about it all as I am. Whatever the afterlife is like, I don’t live my life because it is some motivation to do better, be more benevolent, love others more, cherish the planet, or try to live more in the present. Those are things I’ve come to want to do without thinking about what they qualify me for later. And, after looking at all the hells that different religions have claimed could await people who don’t follow whatever formula they assert would allow them to avoid these sadistic fantasies, I just think they’re all conceived to manipulate people into conforming to notions that promote insecure personal or institutional agendas, often political and economic ones. But at my stage in life, I ...

Every culture has them. And we know what ours are. They’re the stereotypes, the popular definitions, the expectations, the images of what a lesbian, gay man, bisexual person, transgender person, queer person, or any of the others in that alphabet are supposed to be. They’ve been used against LGBTQI people to portray them as useful caricatures that eliminate LGBTQI peoples’ individuality, even their humanity, so they aren’t seen as individuals but something alien to the mainstream, something deviant, something scary. Discrimination needs to do that in order to justify the victimization of any group of human beings and soothe the consciences of the bigots. What Pride parades often attempted to accomplish was to show the world instead the variety of what it means to be an LGBTQI person. None of the stereotypes used against LGBTQI people fit everyone or even most people that paraded past us. And that’s the reality. But so much is built on the idea that there is a stereotype, a way to be LG...

Each year Valentine's Day encourages a whole season of love, whatever that means in American culture. At least it means that the new year begins with stores overflowing with candy, flowers, cards, stuffed animals, jewelry, and other paraphernalia needed to show how buying proves we’re in love. Valentine's Day is a patterned American written and oral exam testing whether you really do love someone, and whether you’re really loved by someone. If they truly love you, they’ll show it through the Day’s products. It’s not all bad. If it is a reminder to take the time in a busy life to express love, how can that in itself hurt? Yes, yes, someone shouldn’t need a special day to do this, but the commercialism that defines the Day also highlights feelings of how seldom we get the space to lavishly celebrate love. The problem is that instead of celebrating love between two people just as they are as human beings, the Day is more a celebration of culturally defined patterns that are not on...

It’s no wild prediction to say that the year ahead will see even more of the “culture wars” ginned up by religionists who use their religion the way any addict uses their preferred addictive substance or process. They’re primed to do so. Begin with right-wing religion’s teaching that people are basically so evil and lost that they deserve eternal, abusive Divine Parental punishment. Add its effectiveness at convincing people of this innate evil because they’ve been prepared to do so through child - rearing methods that punish inherently bad children . Enforce such messages by promoting political leaders whose solution to problems is more punishment. The result: these adults have a desperate need for a fix to provide relief from self-denigrating, self-abusive feelings. That’s what makes a high of feeling righteous so addictive. And with the past (and present) political successes of the right-wing, its framing their crusade as a war to be fought to the death, and the enabling of FOX news...