Monday, July 7, 2008

IT'S NOT ABOUT ISSUES; IT'S ABOUT THE REACTIONARY MIND-SET OF THE POWER ELITE AND ITS ALLIES!

Hostility toward LGBT people has less to do with such issues as same-sex marriage and full and equal rights than it does with a Reactionary mind-set shared by those who have a tenacious adherence to the status quo, as long it they perceive that it profits them. These people are either members of, or allies with, the Power Elite!

The Power Elite is comprised of the people who who have a vested interest in the status quo which they control and from which they mightily profit. Moreover, its members, in order to maintain that control, use assorted dupes and those who want to share in that power, even vicariously, in order to support it and its interests, and such dupes and allies include most of the institutional Church and its members, and all others who buy into the self-serving ideology that this Elite purveys through the media which it controls, and through the credibility that it enjoys in society.

The Power Elite possesses a reactionary mind-set as that mind-set serves its own best economic, political, and material interests. However, what is especially ironic and pathetic is that it uses those who lack critical thinking skills to serve its self-interests, making them think that it is their own interests that are being served. Moreover, most of the institutional Church, by the very fact that it is comprised of bureaucracies, attract and promote into leadership positions those who possess this reactionary-mind set!

So, we have professing Christians all too often enmeshing what they consider to be "Christianity" with the militarism, capitalism, Americanism, and jingoism that serve the Power Elite well, and they fuse what is frequently called "evangelical Christianity" with the very interests of the Power Elite, in direct contradiction to the teachings of Jesus!

And this surreal phenomenon is considered and touted by them to be the hallmark of "traditional," "conservative," "evangelical Christianity!"

And the Power Elite also has as a useful tactic the pitting of one minority group against another, having them cannibalize each other, thereby deflecting attention from its self-serving machinations, and having what is called "conservative Christianity" as providing the supposed biblical and moral justifications for the oppression of the minority group de jour.

In addition, we have the irrational and surreal phenomenon where we have people aligning themselves with the Power Elite by directly working against their own interests, so that we see the spectacle of some African American clergy willing to align themselves with the KKK to oppose same-sex marriage, as seen by Rev. Gregory Daniels who is quoted as having said, "If the KKK opposes gay marriage, I would ride with them."

The reactionary mind-set of the Power Elite has even infiltrated many other African American clergy and their gullible followers who should certainly know better, so that they perversely use the very same rhetoric, justifications for, and advocacy of, discrimination against LGBT people and their acquisition of full and equal civil rights that were once used against African Americans by the allies and members of the Power Elite, and they are now willfully blind to the fact that it was those "activist judges," "liberals," and courageous people, Black and White, which and whom they now roundly condemn, that made possible the end of slavery and segregation.

We also have the spectacle of Gay people who are against same-sex marriage, such as a David Benkof, or who align themselves with those who actively discriminate against them, such as Gay people who attend and support homophobic churches and their clergy, and/or who otherwise support and align themselves with their avowed political enemies, as I dealt with in the article, "The Pathology of the Gay Conservative".

The Power Elite is well able to manipulate the all too frequent shame and self-loathing among Gay people, the shame and self-loathing that they and their reactionary "religious" allies have all too successfully created, fomented, and perpetuated, just as it did among the African Americans during the times of Slavery, and later on, Segregation, of which Malcolm X so brilliantly spoke, most notably in his speech distinguishing between "the House Negro" and "the Field Negro".

The same mind-set that has hostility toward LGBT people and their acquisition of full and equal civil and sacramental rights is the mind-set that used what the "religious" reactionary White Supremacists saw in the Bible, and who then selectively used certain verses (usually without understanding the original Greek or the likely context about which those verses were written), in justifying and expressing their savagery against African Americans both during the institutionalization of Slavery in the U.S., and in the relatively recent past during the era of Segregation and Jim Crow laws.

The same hatred shown toward African Americans in the justification of White Supremacy is the exact same hatred shown toward LGBT people and the justification of heterosexism! Some of the manifestations of that hatred are, of course, different, but the hatred and the justifications for that hatred are exactly the same!

No better most recent examples can be shown to highlight the machinations of the Power Elite by "religious" reactionaries than are contained in these two articles: See here and here.

In the first article, it shows how "evangelical Christians" (I put the term "evangelical" in quotation marks because that term has, unfortunately, been perverted.) are starting to organize and mobilize to support McCain for President. Clearly, they didn't like him in the beginning of the campaign but, when the rubber hits the road, they are going to support him, and they are now providing to themselves as well as to others their justifications in so doing.

"'Our shared conservative evangelical values and our concern about judicial activism compelled us to unite around the presidential candidate who most closely aligns with us,' [Matthew] Staver [President of Liberty Council] said. 'That candidate is obviously Sen. John McCain. United we will move forward to advance our values in the short- and long-term. We are committed to a transgenerational, multiethnic and multiracial conservative movement.'

"The report said some of the Christian leaders were irked by the fact 'Obama has reached out to evangelical leaders more than McCain.' But it confirmed others expressed support for McCain, 'because an Obama presidency would mean passage of highly liberal policies that would probably allow "same-sex marriage," severely hurt religious freedom and ensure the appointment of only judges who would keep abortion on demand as the law of the land.'

"'Rick Scarborough, founder and president of Vision America, predicted that laws would be passed that would essentially criminalize basic Christian beliefs,' Strang's report said."

By portraying Christianity as being under attack, they are using the same rationale and tactics as was used by White Supremacists in creating an "enemy" so that they could portray themselves as victims of a grave threat that only by electing someone who had a mind-set like theirs, regardless of religious or spiritual commitment, could help remedy. Such a portrayal not only garners increased revenue for religious reactionaries, the handmaidens of the Power Elite, but helps enable them to ensure the status quo that they perceive will keep them in control and help keep the minority group(s) they despise under their thumb, so as to maintain their influence and control of most of the institutional Church, maintain what they tout as the moral high ground, and maintain their definition of "Christianity" in the public's mind.

Flagrant disregard of life and limb lost in an unjust and immoral war doesn't seem to bother these public advocates for the rights of the unborn! The irony of their seeming to care for pre-born babies doesn't seem to carry over to their caring for the countless thousands who have already been killed and maimed in the Iraq war, and the many yet likely to be killed and maimed if John McCain becomes President.

What is important to them is to maintain their mind-set of exclusion of "the other," their constructed enemy, be that "other" African Americans, women, LGBT people, or whatever enemy they seek to construct so as to maintain both their hegemony in society, and to help assure that the existing social structure continues to favor them and their ideology, an ideology that has relatively little to do with their "Christian" profession, and certainly nothing to do with Christianity itself!

The contradiction of their professed "Christianity" with their politics has been seen throughout history, so it should come as no surprise that in the second article we read:

"...[The Anglican] the Church refused to comment on a Telegraph report that senior bishops had held secret talks with Vatican officials to discuss the crisis over gays and women bishops.

"The Telegraph has learnt that they met senior advisers of the Pope in an attempt to build closer ties with the Roman Catholic Church.

"Dr [Rowan] Williams [Archbishop of Canterbury] was not told of the talks and the disclosure will be a fresh blow to his efforts to prevent a major split in the Church of England.

"The Church of England refused to confirm or deny the report, describing it as one of a 'plethora' of stories appearing in advance of a General Synod vote on Monday, which will determine whether women will be allowed to become bishops without giving concessions to staunch opponents.

"Up to 600 clergy have given warning in a letter to Dr Williams that they may leave the Church unless they receive a legal right to havens within the Church free of women bishops."

So the hostility "traditional" clergy in the Church of England have toward LGBT rights, such as the ordination of Gay people and same-sex marriage, is seamlessly related to their hostility toward women becoming Bishops, thereby reinforcing the basic misogyny behind much of the homophobia that exists.

The issues aren't women and Gays, per se but, rather, the desire for control within the social structure(s) in which those with the reactionary mind-set find themselves!

We all want some degree of control over our lives, and we want our ideas to be taken seriously by others. However, there is a reactionary mind-set that requires those who possess it to have control over other people, and who thereby seek to impose their self-serving and naked self-interests on the rest of society and/or their denomination, even at the expense and contradiction of their profession of being "Christians" who trust in God, or any other laudable ideology that they profess.

So, just as "evangelicals" largely getting behind McCain for President, self-styled "conservative" Bishops and clergy in the Anglican communion are seeking possible alignment with the Roman Catholic Church, a Church from which their forebears largely dissociated. It is not unlikely that the self-styled "traditionalists" or "conservatives" will now seek some way of affiliating with an organization quite well-known for its comfort with, and institutionalization of, the reactionary mind-set.

Rather than call themselves "Reactionaries" or worse, they call themselves "evangelicals" or even "Christians," all the while not seeing the basic contradiction between their love of power and their professed love of God!

They can condone, or turn a blind eye to, the torture and killing of others, all the while portraying themselves as "the victims" of those [whom they derisively call "liberals"] who seek to stop that torturing and killing; they seek to take the high ground in public discourse, all the while seeking to deprive others of the full and equal civil and sacramental rights that they, themselves, enjoy; they state that they are "traditional Christians," all the while seeking power within their Church and/or society, and not trusting God and the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of that Church and in that society; in the name of "Christianity" they perversely bow down to Caesar and aid him in maintaining a status quo from which he mightily benefits!

We must finally come to realize that the enemy we are fighting, the enemy that oppresses us does so, not especially because we are women, Black, Italian, Jewish, Mexican, poor, immigrants, or Gay but, rather, that "oppression" is what that enemy, the possessor of that reactionary mind-set, routinely does, and has historically done, to gain and maintain power within society and/or the institutional Church!

Once we understand this phenomenon and how we all have a personal stake in the acquisition of equal rights for members of each and every non-predatory minority group, it will be at that point that all of us who are members of minority groups (and that's most of us in the U.S.) will see our commonality with each other and begin to work together in the fight against our common enemy: the Power Elite (and its allies), comprised of those who possess the Reactionary mind-set and who ferociously seek to maintain their control over others at any cost in order to keep their privileged positions!
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8 comments:

Jessica Shope said...

Ephesians 5:3
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.

1 Thessalonias 4:3
It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;

1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

Romans 6:1-2
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Christian Freedom is freedom from sin.

Christian Freedom is freedom to live for Christ.

Hazumu Osaragi said...

Oops, uhh, it's "Ms. Osaragi" I chose as my internet pseudonym the Japanese comicbook character which led me to my epiphany and transition (I'm studying Japanese...) For further information on the character, there is an entry at Wikipedia on the comic, titled Kashimashi.

Jerry, you may choose to keep this communication as a private matter and not post it to the blog, but if so, could you please edit your reply so I'm a Ms.? Thanks ;-)

Jerry Maneker said...

Dear Jane: Do you think that I'm that stupid that I don't know those verses of Scripture that you cite? And there are others that could be, and have been, erroneously cited to support homophobia in the name of Jesus. You, and many other professing Christians, make the assumption that homosexuality is a sin, and neither the contextual meanings of certain verses nor the meanings in the original Greek, support that argument. (An excellent book that deals with this subject is by Rick Brentlinger entitled, "Gay Christian 101." And, you might also want to see the site, "Whosoever," located at www.whosoever.org that also deals with the fact that one can be Gay and be a Christian. I urge you to read these two sources, and read some of the Links on this blog as well.)

Without going into detail (For detail, please see the Links section where I and others write about the consistency between Christianity and same-sex love.), it is important to remember that Jesus never once spoke derisively about Gay people or same-sex love. Indeed, the one time He alluded to the normality and God-given gift of being Gay is in Matthew 19:12, where He says, "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb...." It is certainly not unreasonable to conclude that He is talking about Gay people.

Moreover, if being Gay were a sin, it seems that it would be mentioned in the Ten Commandments and/or the writings of the Prophets and/or have a condemning statement from Jesus in Scripture. Moreover, the word "homosexual" never appears in the biblical manuscripts, as it is a term coined in the late 19th Century, and first appeared in an English Bible in the 1946 Revised Standard Version of the New Testament.

In addition, even Paul is not condemning same-sex love in the "clobber passages" that are frequently cited to purvey the lie that same-sex love is a sin. My articles, that can be found in the Links section, that especially deal with this and other such issues, particularly: "Why Every Church Must Be Open And Affirming"; "Some Talking Points on Christianity and Homosexuality," might be instructive in this matter.

Best wishes, Jerry.

Jerry Maneker said...

Damn, Prof. Maneker, another home run with this piece.

May I take this opportunity to pose the following rhetorical questions, as I think it is tangentially rated to this posting?

Complete the sentences;

"'Christian Freedom' is freedom from [____________]"

"'Christian Freedom' is freedom to [____________]"

In our society today, the word Freedom (and the word Truth and the word Right,) have disputed core definitions -- a fact the manipulators use. I'd like to be able to attach the invoking of 'Christian Freedom' to specific acts of bigotry. Anybody care to contribute?

Jerry Maneker said...

Although posted under my name in the previous comment, Ms.hazumu osaragi corrected me when I ignorantly assumed is was Mr. Osaragi. So, here is my response to her kind comment to me, and the answer to each of her two questions:

Thank you so much, Ms. Osaragi for your kind words. To answer the questions:
1. "Christian Freedom" is freedom from legalism.
2. "Christian Freedom" is freedom to be authentic as God made you.
Best wishes, Jerry.

Jessica Shope said...

No, I don't believe that you are stupid, and it was unreasonable for you to assume so. There's no reason to be so defensive on MY behalf. You seem very intelligent, although I would also say grossly misguided. Still, here is what I have to say in response to your arguments:

Jesus says in that exact same chapter from Matthew which you quoted from...

"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

Does he say "male and male" or "female and female"? No, I believe that he said "male and female." It was God's plan from the very beginning that a marital relationship should be only for one man and one woman to share. That's why God made Adam and Eve. Not Adam and Adam or Eve and Eve.

Secondly, the definition of eunuch has no homosexual connotation whatsoever, so it is quite impossible that Jesus was refering to homosexuals.

As for any commandments set down in the Old Testiment, there is one. Leviticus 20:13 says, "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."

That's pretty clear, isn't it?

As for the links and books that you've informed me about, I hope that you won't be offended when I tell you that I have no interest in reading them. However, if you have anymore Scripture to back up your own personal arguments, I will be more than happy to listen.

Respectfully,
Jane

Jerry Maneker said...

Dear Jane: I'm not going to address your specific items here, as they have been addressed by me and others in articles and sites that I suggested you read. Since you say, "As for the links and books that you've informed me about, I hope that you won't be offended when I tell you that I have no interest in reading them," you show both an intellectual and a spiritual dishonesty that would make any further discussion of your statements pointless. Regards, Jerry Maneker.

John said...

Jane,

The bible is a tool to help us understand the mind of God, and a history of His relationship with his people. But it is still a just a tool.

All of the people who write and speak in the bible are flawed, fallible men and women. We can appreciate their wisdom, but we must remember they are are fallible and they are products of their times.

Only Jesus is timeless, and his command to love and not judge is the only thing we really need to see the light.

If your bible leads you to judge, to condemn or in any way condescend, then you should do what Jesus said to do with anything that leads you astray.

Throw your bible in the trash if it teaches anything but love and tolerance for our LGBT brothers and sisters.