Quick note: if a word seems lighter than the rest, that’s because it’s a link! Apparently the theme I chose doesn’t make links very obvious. The following words include a link, in the order they appear: Jewish, Christian (it might take a minute for those two; it’s where I said there’s an example for each of a group), here, Dudeism, disgusting, ways.
Call me sensitive, but I fucking hate reading ignorant things. It hurts, and it makes me feel like shit that someone would be so close-minded as to purposefully misgender someone, or attack someone because of their faith. Which, as a lot of people know, is running rampant, thanks to the internet.
Yesterday, I read an article, linked from a post on Reddit. I couldn’t find the post again (sorry), but it was essentially mocking a pride parade, making out all of the not-”normal”-looking adults to be child molesters. It also misgendered- highly intentionally- some transgender folks, writing, “this man dressed as a woman…” and vice versa. It also had a picture of two overweight-looking teenagers, and said “this is what the gender identity revolution has done to our youth” (or something similar- since I couldn’t find the post or the article, I have to write the quotes from memory). It just makes me really sad. Why? I mean, okay, I get sticking to your faith. But trying to purposefully attack people, imply that they’re child molesters from the way that they look is plain cruel. Intentionally harmful, the opposite of “love thy neighbor.” So why?
I’ll be the first one to tell you that I really don’t know much about the Christian faith. All I know is what we learned in History last year, plus a few tidbits I’ve picked up from reading books and other things. But what I do know is that the Islamic faith? Comes from the exact same god. So is the Jewish faith.
Each one follows their own prophet. Judaism maintains that only the first prophet, Abraham, was a true prophet. Christianity maintains that the first and second are both true prophets. While Islam states that all three- Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammed- are true prophets. Each religion has grown out of that seed, yet a lot of American people (and I’m sure people from other countries, but I can only speak from my own experience) hate Muslims because of their extremist groups. But just because the extremist groups from Christianity and Judaism (of which there definitely are- here’s a Jewish one and here’s a Christian one, although the Christian one isn’t one that uses physical violence) aren’t making the news as much doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
The thing is, while I was reading some of the quotes from members of the Christian extremist group up there, I started to feel sick. It makes me feel so shitty that these people don’t want me to be alive or a member of society without knowing anything about me. It’s all on the basis of something that I can’t control. This is me, who I am. Could you separate your sexual orientation and your gender from your sense of self? Maybe the first one, but for most people, the second is pretty damn important to how they see themselves. If this group had as much sway as, say, the Taliban, I would be making this choice: on the one hand, live in the closet my entire life, stifling any attraction to girls or any masculine instincts, and probably, to be blunt, commit suicide. But on the other hand, live however the fuck I want to, be happy for the short time I’m able, and die young for breaking the law.
But I’m not writing this post to discuss my views on LGBT rights, because I’m positive you all know them by now. I’m writing about religion.
A lot of people don’t know this, but a bunch of top Muslim scholars in the east actually collected a huge document with all of the reasons ISIS isn’t actually Muslim (which you can find right here). They claim to be, but if the top minds of the Islamic faith all agree that they’re not acting in accordance with Muslim principles, why should we call them Muslim? (Just so that you all know, I’m actually not Muslim. My family follows a breakoff religion of Buddhism, and I currently don’t believe in any god. What I do believe in is the right of everyone to practice peacefully whatever faith they want, even if it’s Dudeism– which is why I’m writing this.)
I’m also going to add a little note here: one of the things in the summary of the document says this: “It is…forbidden to cite a portion of a verse from the Qur’an- or part of a verse- to derive a ruling without looking at everything the Qur’an and the Hadith teach related to that matter” (pg 1). In addition, it says “it is forbidden to deny women [or]…children their rights” (pg 1 as well). I do know that because in Islam women must wear headscarves, according to Sharia law (the way of living as it has evolved based on the Qur’an and Hadith), people think that Muslims are barbaric towards women. But in reality, most faiths are terrible to women.
In my faith, if you had bad karma in your past life, one of the consequences is getting reborn as a woman, versus a man. And if you’re a woman, you can’t become a monk or ascetic.
In the Hebrew Bible, it says, “‘Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof’” (Genesis 19:8). Later, Lot (the man who spoke the words above) is celebrated as a good guy. The whole story’s a bit more complicated, but what I think explains things is that Lot is Abraham’s nephew.
And there are countless examples of people all over the internet attacking the Christian faith by pulling quotes from the Bible that contradict each other, promote sexism, violence, rape culture, and countless other things. That doesn’t mean necessarily that the faith is bad, it just means that the holy books were written a long time ago- under a very different social system.
I mean, Rome, hailed as one of the greatest civilizations, was absolutely disgusting in some ways. But their style of government, their architecture, so much of what they left behind has benefited us- once adapted to modern ideals, of course. What I’m trying to say is, although some of the ideals in the holy books of various faiths are outdated, they’re still worth something. When taken with a grain of salt, I feel like they could have valuable lessons for us. All religions, that is, not just the ones I mentioned here.
But when you don’t have all the facts, it’s really hard to make an accurate judgement. You know?
I did I a fair bit of research while writing this post today, and I hope you enjoyed it, or at least that it got you thinking, whether you agree with me or not. I’d love to hear what you all think, and feel free to try and change my mind!
11:51pm, September 25, 2017
Chamomile Midnight Rambles 
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