You may have noticed a bit of a theme over the past month or so with many pieces on The Vue Post dealing with the demand for equal rights by the LGBTI community, and you may have thought to yourself that it’s quite enough.
I agree, enough is enough!
We live in an age when a public call for the stoning of adulterers, the enslaving of people or discrimination against people of colour, would simply be unacceptable and would draw unequivocal public outrage – and rightly so.
However, it seems you can still publicly call for homosexuals to be put to death, or pass legislation to actively discriminate against them, and … that’s just fine. After all, it’s the bible, you see?!
It’s one thing when LGBTI people come under attack from a right-wing car mechanic, or a holier than thou pizza shop family, but it’s quite different when so-called ‘respected religious community leaders’ or elected legislators take aim at the LGBTI community and their heinous statements or actions are without consequences, or even celebrated as a ‘moral’ victory.
US Pastor thinks gays should be put to death
The latest example is Pastor Robert Lee of the Ten Commandments Church in Milledgeville, Georgia in the United States. The good Pastor is of the biblical view that ‘[h]omosexuality is an abomination, and the Bible says that homosexuality is a death worthy crime’ and created a lovely sign outside his church to reiterate that message.
Pastor Lee is also quoted of saying that ‘[t]he institution of marriage was instituted by God and it should not be changed by people who deserve not to live‘.
We have another bible quote for Pastor Robert Lee:
44. Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.
45. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.
46. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.
Leviticus 25:44-46
Stick that bible quote on your church-board Pastor Lee and see how your congregation likes it …
Tasmania just wants to discriminate … a little
As for Tasmania, I reported last month about the proposed amendments to the State’s anti-discrimination legislation which would allow religious schools to prevent students from enrolling, on the ground of religious beliefs.
These amendment would not just reduce the effectiveness of Tasmania’s anti-discrimination legislation which is currently one of the most comprehensive in Australia, and widely considered to be the model for a modern, liberal secular democracy, but would also send a very wrong message in the 21st century. The fact that it targets children with religious discrimination makes it particularly reprehensible.
Unfortunately, the Anti-Discrimination Amendment Bill 2015 has been passed by the Tasmanian House of Assembly on 30 April 2015 and it is now on its way to the Legislative Council.
Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Robin Banks, the Shadow Attorney-General, Lara Giddings, and the Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group are all united in continuing to oppose these proposed, regressive and discriminatory amendments.
The Vue Post 