Simply Absurd

Once again, I find myself shaking my head at some of the atrocities perpetrated in the name of Christianity:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070811/ap_on_re/gay_funeral_4;_ylt=AoJZ8D7gN4KXhrQaZsDf5f8E1vAI

Feel free (anyone) to contradict me, but didn't Jesus himself associate with lepers, whores, and outcasts? (Not that being gay is analagous to any of the above, but you get the point...) Again, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't one of the basic tenets of Christianity supposed to be love for one's fellow man? How about the whole "judge not lest ye be judged" concept? If I may quote from The Book Of Common Prayer:

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it...thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

(I may have gotten a word or two incorrect, but a lifetime as an Episcopalian has enabled me to pretty much quote verbatim the most often-used sections of the BCP.)

Religion is a complex thing to say the least...I don't pretend to have all the answers, and more often than not, I find myself looking up at God and basically saying "I know you're there, I believe that you are loving and kind, and I am just going to trust you and not try to figure it all out." That may or may not be the right approach, but it works for me, and God & I are just fine. I am not ashamed to admit that He and I talk every day, and I think/hope that I am kind and compassionate to my fellow man. Beyond that, it's all as much a mystery to me as to anyone else. However, I do feel sure that to deny one of God's children the civility and courtesy of a decent church-based Christian funeral is pretty far off from the teachings of Christ.

To paraphrase George Carlin, do you see any of these preachers going out and giving their posessions to some poor unwed mothers, sitting down in a soup kitchen to comfort a homeless man, or adopting an unwanted black crack baby? NO!... That might actually be something that Jesus would do...

Sorry for getting on my soap box, but that's how I feel.

On a more cheerful note, here's today's story from the BBC. :-)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6941611.stm

Closing question: why does my blogspot clock always register posts several hours earlier than they were really written? Of course it makes it look as if I am always up bright and early, but it's a bit unsettling...

FLT3