My shoe doesn’t fit your foot, so why should your truth fit my reality?
–––
But now we got weapons,
Of the chemical dust.
If fire them we’re forced to,
Then fire them we must.
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide,
And you never ask questions
When God’s on your side.Bob Dylan
I often travel around the United States and internationally present talks on numerous issues of social justice. A few years back, I gave a talk on the topic of heterosexism and cis-sexism at Pace University in New York City. I talked about my own experiences as the target of harassment and abuse growing up gay and differently gendered, and I discussed the thesis of my book, Homophobia: How We All Pay the Price. In the book I argue that everyone, regardless of one’s actual sexual identity and gender identity and expression are hurt by sexuality and gender oppression, and, therefore, it is in everyone’s self-interest to work to reduce and ultimately eliminate these very real and insidious forms of oppression.
Following my presentation, two students came up to talk with me — one young woman and one young man — to continue the discussion. The young woman student began by telling me:
“I’m really sad to hear about the abuse that you and others have received because you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.”
“I am here to tell you,” she continued, “that I have a way to prevent that from ever happening to you again. I believe that Jesus Christ can help you. If you ask Jesus and pray hard, Jesus will save you from your homosexual feelings and your gender behavior, and He can help you to achieve the life that is meant for you, in his service, as a happy and healthy heterosexual. This will save you from the abuse you have suffered.”
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I looked deeply into her eyes and inquired:
“So, let me see if I understand you: If I accept Jesus in my life and ask him to help me become heterosexual and traditionally gendered, then I won’t suffer from the abuse any longer? So, to be supported in society, I have to change who I am and conform to the dominant standards of society? So, for people like yourself to truly accept and support me, I have to become like you?”
“This is what I am hearing you saying. While I understand that you are offering me, in your mind, a gift, do you not see how this in itself is a form of heterosexism and cis-sexism? Do you not see how this perpetuates oppression?”
She responded with surprise and claimed that she knew the “truth,” and that if I accepted “Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior,” He could grant me salvation and happiness, but if I continued to reject “the Lord,” this would result in continued earthly and eventual eternal torment.
This young woman’s words brought to mind something one of the students in my Multicultural Foundations in Schools and Society course wrote on his final essay for our course:
“[A]s a Christian I am called to not be tolerant. I am not called to be violent, but am called to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28). When I look through all of the information I have been given in my life … I come to the conclusion that America was founded as a Christian nation … Separation of church and state was created to keep the state out of changing the church, not to keep the church out of the state” (undergraduate male pre-service teacher education university student).
The young woman and I at Pace university continued our dialogue for more than one hour, and we ended cordially. I thanked her for dialoguing with me, and she exited the auditorium with a smile.
All the while, the young man who had initially walked up to me at the close of my presentation had been closely looking on and listening to the young woman and my discussion. The young man then spoke to me.
He asked:
“Professor Blumenfeld, you stated that you are a writer, that you had published a number of articles and books. Is this correct?”
“Yes,” I responded.
“Okay, then,” he continued. “You know that in the writing process, the first draft is never really complete or isn’t very good.”
“That’s often the case,” I agreed.
“Okay, then after you have had some time for reflection and you write your second draft, this is an improvement over the first draft, but still, it can be improved. So after further reflection and writing, your third version is great. Now you can send it to your publisher.”
I said to him, “Possibly, but I think I know where your analogy is taking us. Please don’t tell me that this is a metaphor for religious texts.”
“Yes, indeed,” he said with a smile. “The first draft is the Hebrew Bible — not so good. The second draft is the Christian scriptures — somewhat better, but not much. But the best version, the third, is the Quran: the real truth, the ultimate truth, the only truth.”
I responded to the young man:
“As we speak, we are standing a mere few blocks from the former World Trade Center towers. Utterances and understandings like yours and like the young woman I just spoke with, and by people of any faith, that there is one and only one ultimate religious truth, that there is only way, this results in people taking it upon themselves, for example, to crash airplanes into buildings. Utterances like yours of people of any faith give people justification to kill in the name of their interpretation of ‘God.’”
“Why,” I argued, “cannot the young woman I just spoke with realize that her understanding of God, while valid and reliable for her, may simply not be valid and reliable for me or for you, too? And why cannot you realize that your understanding may be great for you, but not necessarily for me and for the Christian woman? How many must we humans kill before we realize that there are many ways toward the truth, not one way for everyone when it comes to religion and spirituality?”
◊♦◊
That was then. Though this occurred a number of years ago, this discussion comes back to my memory giving me an insight I previously had not known: That “truth” is what the dominant group declares truth to be. “Knowledge” is anything the dominant group defines as “knowledge,” though “knowledge” itself is socially constructed and produced.
How many wars are we going to justify in the name of “God,” our “God” versus their so-called “false god(s)”?
Someone once said to me that throughout the ages, more people have been killed in the name of religion than all the people who have ever died of all diseases combined.
I don’t believe this to be the case, but I do think it highlights a vital point, that we continually kill others and others attempt to kill us over concepts that no one can ever prove.
Throughout history, Jews and Muslims have killed each other, Christians and Muslims have killed each other, Christians and Jews have killed each other, Hindus and Muslims have killed each other, Catholics and Protestants have killed each other, Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims have killed each other, many faith communities have killed Atheists and Agnostics, and the killing persists.
In psychology, we have the notion that insanity is doing something over and over again while expecting different results. The insanity of the world continues because human beings do not know their history, do not understand that we are doing something over and over again while expecting different results, namely, we are expecting peace to break out.
Individuals and entire nations continue to believe that their reality fits all, and that it is proper and right to force their beliefs onto others “with God on our side.”
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Great post. I am a Christian but I do not believe in forcing my religion upon others. If my religion is meant to work for others, then that is great. But, if they find fulfillment and purpose in a different religion, that is equally great.
I think we need to move toward a nation that does not only tolerate others’ viewpoints and perspectives, but ACCEPTS them. I believe there is a large difference between tolerance and acceptance, and that we should actively strive for the latter.
Excellent post Warren. I learned this when I was 14 in Catholic church sermons. Priest said God said this or that and in my mind I realized he couldn’t possibly know what God really said anymore than I could. He was just convinced the Bible was the end all to be all. But not for me. From that 0oin5 forward I just lived my life the way I thought best and let others do the same. Although for fun I cannot tell you how much fun I’ve had over the years debating those earnest young Mormon kids who are required… Read more »
To Terry Washington: “Today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.” ADOLPH HITLER, Mein Kampf (1925)
My personal view is that although I am willing to die for my faith( as Roman Catholic convert) , killing for the sake of it is deeply icomprehensible.
Also the original post ignores the fact that atheistical regimes and their ideologies( most norotiously Soviet style Communism and German Nazism) have killed more people in the 20th century than all the crusades and other “holy” wars or Inquisitions ever did!
Interesting article! Thanks! I’m a Christian – but my policy is “God have you free will, who the hell am I to take that away from you” – now that my disclaimer is out of the way I’ll get to the point. I keep finding that as the general direction of the world becomes more atheistic I have somehow found that my right to my opinion about religion & the world is actually less socially acceptable. I’ve become the minority (somehow – in Australia) and it’s exhausting! I take pains not to bible bash & to respect other opinions &… Read more »
Ed. Though you disagree with my views, you continually read my postings. I find that very admirable.
“If you ask Jesus and pray hard…” Wow, that reminds me of a close HS friend who became a born again Christian and yet in 7th grade she developed a crush on me…and kept trying to come out to me with her feelings of infatuation for me as I avoided her….as a HS senior, she pretended to be looking for that ultimate preppy Christian boy who would be her romantic and spiritual partner…she never found him because she finally came to terms with her preference for the same sex…now she is quite active in a Rainbow Coalition Church and more… Read more »