Letters to the Editor
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How very Christian of them...
Actually they sound more like Pharisees, and anyone who remembers anything from Bible school (full disclosure: former Preacher's Kid), knows how much Jesus liked the Pharisees.
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Maybe, the schools shouldn't be promoting any particular sides in the culture wars.
Why is it good for left-wing organizations to be "promoting" school-based events, but not for right-wing organizations to do the same?
I might be rightfully entitled to think that if I wanted to organize a protest against a serious problem of violence, I would want to raise awareness of the the bloodthirsty subhuman jackals who bombed the markets of Baghdad over the past several weeks, killing hundreds of innocent Iraqis. There you have some serious social injustice, and some very serious violence. That might be something worth 'protesting.' Support for the Marines in killing, capturing and stopping the offending insurgents.
Or perhaps advocating a boycott of the nation of Zimbabwe, in order to protest the human rights abuses of the brutal dictator, Robert Mugabe? Or maybe advancing human rights in North Korea?
Why not a national day of silence and t-shirt wearing to raise concsiousness in support of Christians in the middle east, who have become ever-more marginalized? No prayers, just silence. Organized by a Christian advocacy group.
This is all about identity politics, and in my opinion the schools have had enough of it. But those who ride the First Amendment into the school day should not be heard to complain about opposing points of view under the same rule of law.
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Good and Evil
Why is it good for left-wing organizations to be "promoting" school-based events, but not for right-wing organizations to do the same?
Because we're good and you're evil. Duh. ;)
On a more serious note, I find your attempt to equate opposing a message with opposing free speech to be a worthless strawman argument.
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the "truth"
The truth from the Christian perspective is that Christ never said a single thing about homosexuality, but he said a shitload about the poverty, injustice, intolerance and Phariseeism that modern fundamentalists worship.
Make no mistake, the so-called "Christians" in charge of the Day of Truth are not furthering any Biblical, Christian, or godly perspective but merely their own acquired social revulsion to the people Christ commanded them to love.
As a Christian, I am enraged that I must share the name of my faith with such people. I have every intention of participating in my own school's Day of Silence, as I have for the past three years.
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Trugh Indeed
From the "Day of Truth" Website:
May I alter the materials to add my own style?
No. The t-shirts and other materials were designed to communicate a simple and respectful message. It is very important that the materials not be altered in any way, shape, or form, except where you are specifically told to supply information, such as on the sample press release.
So, students promote the truth as long as it is an orginzations neatly packaged agenda that can be neither altered or elaborated on. My biggest concern for these "Days of ____" is that students end up used as political pawns.
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So tell me again why the schools should be hosting the moral debate over homosexuality?
Apart from who is right or wrong.
Why should the school in any way "host" an activist group or program promoting homosexual rights?
If you say, "the schools aren't 'hoting' or 'promoting' anything, that's fine. So it's a free speech issue. I'd hope that Christian/conservative organizations are afforded the same free-speech rights. (And by the way, since when did Christians become the bogeymen of the homosexual-rights activists? Aren't there some more serious homosexual rights issues in the Muslim world?)
If you say, the Day of Silence isn't about any political activism or advocacy, it is only about protesting the harassment of homosexuals, that's fine too. Respectable conservatism doesn't advocate harming or harassing homosexuals. Nor does the Roman Catholic church, nor does James Dobson. So that one's a wash too. The Day of Silence proponents say, "Protect the safety and security of homosexuals," and others say, "Our faith and morals inform us that homosexuality is wrong and destructive." Neither side's position is mutually exclusive. They pass each other like ships in the night.
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a message sent...
To those of you who think that Christians are incapable of criticizing each other or too weak to stand up in the face of oppression, I just sent this, along with all my contact information, to the people who run the Day of Truth website:
I heard of your site from Salon.com. As a Christian, I am truly offended that you people think you ought to be spending your time supporting intolerant views that Christ never once spoke of, while you could be truly serving your Lord by helping the poor and the oppressed of this world. The fact that you peddle your own social revulsion to people who don't conform to your (thoroughly Western) ideas of gender norm as supporting a "Christian" truth is an insult to all Christians who have dedicated and given their lives to the cause of spreading Christ's love and message to all people. We are none of us exempt from sin and we are all in need of the salvation that comes only from Christ's love, not from the dogma of the Pharisees. If you want to spread your hate and intolerance, do it in your own names, for Christ truly never passed any opinion on the matter. Stop turning the rest of the world against Christianity, and start opening your hearts.
Thanks to you, I am more resolved than ever to take part in my own school's Day of Silence for the fourth year in a row. While you concern yourselves with the letter of a law that you don't understand, the real Christians of the world will be engaging in a loving relationship with their fellow sinners.
"[They] abjure the substance of religion and its demands for social moral performance, evading their obligations as Christians for the infinitely subtle refinements of formalistic posturing. [...] The hypocrisy of conventional religion, Coppe's well-favoured harlot, was its fertility and subtlety in finding restraints on, and diversions from, the substantive moral obligations of Christianity. Compared to this, cursing and swearing, "base impudent kisses" and lust were innocuous offenses, symptoms rather than cause. Coppe refers to them not to endorse them, but to contrast that the formally religious judge each other for these things -- and count this righteousness -- while they ignore hardness of heart and lack of charity."
-J. C. Davis, historian, on Abiezer Coppe's "A Fiery Flying Roll"
in Christ's peace
(please do not send me any of your literature)
*Rosenkavalier*, Theta Alpha Kappa