Noah Baron, Associate Editor
Ideology: Religious Progressive | Writing From: Columbia University

Note: Because the author is Jewish, he does not spell out the name of G-d.

Recently, a number of anti-gay “Christians” submitted a number of comments – unsubstantiated – in response to Ian’s latest post about the National Equality March. Their content varied somewhat, yet not much, with phrases such as “homosexuals should stay away from children” and “there are those, like gays, who choose to reject [G-d’s love].” It distresses me greatly that so many alleged Christians find it necessary to resort back to clichés rather than being able to think for themselves and come up with arguments that are actually convincing, when it comes to homosexuality. Unfortunately, such opinions are commonplace among many Christian Fundamentalists today. Not only do they see their view of the Bible as the only possible way of reading the Bible – they judge and condemn all others to Hell as well.

They claim that they speak the Word of G-d – in reality, they don’t. I believe in a G-d who is all-loving; my G-d is all-forgiving; my G-d is not One who finds hate acceptable, nor is He One who believes that it is decent to cloak it in His word. Religious anti-gay bigots like to excuse their bigotry by saying, “It is not my word — it’s G-d’s word.”

All the while, however, they exhibit the highest forms of hypocrisy. It was Jesus who commanded them to love your neighbor as themselves; it was Jesus who commanded them to, furthermore, judge not, lest they be judged. As a human beings, it is not for them to judge — that is the responsibility of G-d, and G-d alone, just as it His place to determine who he made straight and whom he made gay; who shall live and whom shall die.

In my frequent conversations with such people, they frequently make the claim that I am merely “blind” to G-d’s Will, or that I am simply too “proud” to see the error of my ways. It is not for me to say whether I am either, but I do not believe in Hell (though likely they believe that all Jews are going there, regardless, so I suppose this is not relevant). Yet these conversations usually end with me wondering: Have they even read the Bible? If they have, it appears to have done them little good, as they likely flaunt all of Matthew.

How often have you seen such people going around, informing people they deem to be “sinners” of their destiny in the afterlife? Yet Matthew says, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2). They focus on the flaws of others, yet ignore their own pride, hatred, and irrational fears – “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).

How many times have they sworn oaths — I have never, I have only affirmed, by the way — for the Bible says, “‘But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is G-d’s throne; or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one’” (Matthew 5:35-37).

Every week, they go to a Church filled with gold and beautiful things, while the poor starve in the streets. They proselytize, advertise their faith, make it known to all that they are “Good Christians”. Yet Jesus condemned these things too: “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:5-7)

One imagines that a healthy dose of true modesty and education might do them some good.

I find it among the most inexcusable forms of obnoxiousness that such so-called Christians find it necessary to preach to me about how their religion condemns who I am. If they wish to persecute your own, that is one thing, but I am a Jew; my religion and my G-d, the Jewish G-d, the only G-d, do not condemn any form of righteous and true love. We do not fear what is different merely because it is different; we recognize the forms of human fallibility, the imperfectness of those who have translated the Bible — from their mere error to their own prejudices. As a Jew, I use the Tanakh as a guide for what is right and just; however, as someone who has felt the awesome presence of G-d, I use the knowledge that I have gained from that Presence as a means by which to determine which passages are product of the human imagination or error, and which are the product of the Hand of G-d.

They say, “you cannot change what is written in the Bible.” I respond: No, I cannot change what the flawed hand of man has written; yet neither can you change to whom G-d has decided to grant His love — to all of His creatures, regardless of the gender of whom they love.

Thankfully, however, there are those who truly follow the word of Jesus. I respect them greatly for, though I am Jewish, I understand that you don’t need to believe that Jesus was the Messiah to recognize the importance of many of his teachings. These people give me hope that someday a more reasonable approach to the Bible will be reached by conservative Christians (and, their counterparts in other religions) and they will begin to take a hint from their more Christian fellows and come to the understanding that being a “real” Christian doesn’t necessitate hating gay people or going to the Campus Crusade for Christ meetings every week – there are ways to be Christian without forcing it on other people and without obsessively focusing on a relatively minor issue in the Bible, and all the while being modest, kind and caring.