Camps

A strange thing has happened on the way to civil right for gay people. Liberal politics and the secular community sided with the gay community under the banner of equal rights and love. Conservative politics and a big part of the religious community ended up as a coalition of bigotry and hate. The real fun thing is the traditional Christian god has been dragged to the hate side of the argument and is losing ground. The Catholic church gets most of the credit for presenting the Christian god as an unsavory character, something they have been perfecting since the Inquisition. They can't claim all the glory though, the Protestant arm of the political religious right has done their part as well. There, down in the mud of human bigotry and glorified violence, the Christian god joins that of the Muslim's. They merge actually, looking to be the same "God of Abraham" after all.

It never seemed to me that the Muslims ever made the claim that theirs was a god of love. For me Islam first made the headlines in 1972 with the murder of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich - I was 17. (I vaguely remember the Six Day War of 1967 but that was Nation against Nation.) Munich was Muslim terrorists in an - until then- unimaginable act of depravity acted out deliberately to stun the world with hate. From 1972 until 9/11/2001 and on until this week's headline bombing, Islam has portrayed itself as a religion of murder and hate, making the news every with every act of terrorism more perverted than the last. Indeed, if tomorrow a band of Islamic terrorists, acting in the name of their god, set of a dirty bomb in NYC that resulted in the eventual deaths of tens of millions of people, no one in the world would be the least bit surprised. Which, seems to me, is pretty much the last word on Islam and love. Any Islamic claim of worshiping a loving god should rightly be met with a hoot of laughter. And really, any Islamic claim of worshiping any kind of god beside one of unrelenting evil should be met with the same hoot of laughter.

For a long time Christians have claimed to have a kind of exclusive understanding of love. To them the redemption story is the greatest love story of all time, demonstrating a love far superior to anything human kind could fathom. It is their mythology so of course they are free to make any claim they like. Should it come to pass that their religious institutions actually reflect such a claim they might actually become part of the good guys in the human family. But they have had 2000 years or so to try, and haven't managed it yet.

In fact the Christians are well on the way to matching the Muslims when it comes to stripping any vestige of love from their god. Claiming god is love while supporting the oppression of women and gay people strikes a discord that many are starting to notice. Protecting child molesters does the same thing. Let us not forget, President Bush II wrapped the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in the Christian flag and started his own Crusade. When he did I don't remember hearing may Christians disagree with him. The born again President Obama continued those wars. The Protestant sect of Christianity is solidly behind robber baron capitalism, is outspoken in its attack on science, and dismisses any education that doesn't bow a knee to Bible Study. (More like Islam than they know). The Catholic sect does a better job of talking about economic justice for the poor and protecting the earth, but ... the Koch brothers are Catholics, as is Newt Gingrich, Bill O'Riely, and Justice Roberts. American Catholic Bishops can be counted on to campaign directly for Republicans come election time. What ever else they might be, say the word "love" and no one in this group comes to mind.

Some might suggest that religion has lost its way, that it let love slip its grasp by reaching for influence and power. I don't think it worked that way but it doesn't matter. Had it and lost it, never had it but claimed it and got found lying, thought they had it but discovered all they had was myth ... all ends up in the same place. Religion is in one camp.

Love is in another camp.

I am pretty pleased to find that love, compassion, and tolerance are words no longer associated with the religious / conservative crowd and now reside firmly in the secular / progressive camp. People working together to make life as good as possible for as many as they can is what democracy is supposed to be. It is what people who care about each other do.

Where are those caring people now? They are supporting civil rights for gay people, voting rights for all people, protecting the environment for the generations to come, and fighting a rear guard against those who want to put women back under the thumb of men. They are progressive, liberal, and mostly secular, on the right side of history.

One the right side with love.