Even If I Am Going to Hell....

"tied to a fence like a scarecrow"

That was one of the most horrible things that ever happened. I was in college in Colorado at the time. My room mate was very good friends with Matthew, but I knew him only casually. Ironically, the Neurosurgeons I worked for were treating both Matthew and McKinney for head injuries, as McKinney was involved in an altercation with another person later the same night. It was so awful. I was angry for a really long time, and I am still very angry about it. Unfortunately, there are articles circulating now that are trying to still debunk the whole premise of hate crime. The Phelps camp has done some really awful things in his memory as well. If you are ever morbidly curious, go visit their hateful site. It's very disturbing. But I digress...

Dude, I said, "The Pope...[makes] declartions against homosexuals".

I didn't say he said to kill them. I didn't even say "condemn".

There may be denominations of "Catholicism" that allow homosexual priests, but your Holy See has stated that homosexuals cannot enter the seminary: "Pope bans homosexuals from ordination as priests...Applicants with 'gay' tendencies won't be admitted to seminaries" h ttp://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.a sp?ARTICLE_ID=46409

He also said:"homosexual orientation [is] an "intrinsic moral evil"" and ""heterosexuality and homosexuality come to be seen as simply two morally equivalent variations."" http://www.advo cate.com/news_detail.asp?id=15726

Do I need to go to Catholic services to understand what the Pope means when he calls homosexual unions "dangerous and counterproductive"? http://www.li fesite.net/ldn/2007/jan/07011110.html

I stand by my original assertation that "the Pope...commits crimes against humanity...[with] his declarations against homosexuals".

I did not claim he said to kill anybody.

Everything I just posted...I am confused.

Do you understand I didn't claim that the Pope said to go kill homosexuals?

Do you understand that the head of a major universal organization pointing out a particular group of people and denying them equal rights, saying that they are "morally evil", that their relationships are "dangerous" is...well, not a good thing (to say the least)?

Let's hypothetically say the head of a major organization points out a particular group of people and says that "by defending myself against [these people], I am fighting for the work of the Lord". This person calls that group of people "poison", & denies them equal rights? This person is very powerful and people agree with this person's statements, and say that "if you don't agree, don't listen".

What if these people this person is disgusted with are Jews?
What if this leader was Hitler?

The Pope isn't there yet, but he is using the same rhetoric; the same hate speech as other leaders in other ways throughout history to invoke passion in people...the hatred of a sect of individuals who have committed no crime.
People are disgusted by homosexuals, and it's because of leaders like this saying things like this. People discriminate against homosexuals, people kill homosexuals because of things like this leader's words. They justify it by believing that homosexuals are corrupt and less than human.

People need to understand that his words are poison, and very powerful.

Does that make sense?

(I hate to invoke Godwin's law, but in discussing crimes against humanity I feel it is excepted.)

i know what you are saying, birch, and i totally agree.

I second

Whew!

Phelps' camp is clearly a bunch of loony extremists.

Phelps... AAAHHHHH RUN AWAY RUN AWAY!! I wonder where they get there beliefs...not the bible...unless they have skewered it so far the other direction that it has taken on a life of its own..

The phelps are about as disgusting as any human could be. Unfortunately they have been to Wichita several time with their hatefilled protests. I have counter protested them three times. You come away from them feeling like you need a shower with really hot water to wash their filthy essence off of you.

What is really sad is the small children in their group. They have been so brain washed that they are just as ugly as the adults.

The Kids are the ones that drag the american flag in the dirt and wipe their feet on it.

What makes anyone so hatefilled is beyound me. They thrive on it.

Atr one counter demo I got the time wrong and got to the site about a half hour early. I'm just standing on this city corner waithing for my friends when the phelps arrive. I did not have on anything that would identify me as a protestor and there was a bus stop on the corner next to me for all they knew I was simply there waiting for the bus. As soon as they arrived two of the women approached me and starting calling me a w (lady of the night who trades favors for ...) among other lovely terms. I did not respond back so they started yelling in my face. This went on for a while before they moved on down the sidewalk to harrass another.

I think that they target some folk but that in reality they simply hate anyone outside of their very miniscule group of followers. If you are not with them you are the enemy and must be attacked.

Yeah,sistersister, you are right, they hate everyone and I have HUGE respect for you for standing toe to toe against there hate We need more like you . I have fought those nuts in San Francisco and I can tell you first hand that they truly are crazy and dangerous. I am speaking as one of the many people that they hate and want dead...

It is very sobering to see how hurtful and hatefilled a group such as therirs can be. I remember when Matthew Shepard was killed and these morons showed up at the funeral thinking how I would have felt to have garbage like that at my sons funeral.

The really sad thing is that while they are so vile there are so many who while less
obvious are just as hatefull.

The world would be better with out them or at least it would be safer. Since that is not possible I think the next best thing is to counter them when ever possible.

I would have punched them. It'd be worth the jail time.

On related notes, discrimination sickens me. I know my upbringing wasn't free of racism. My dad to this day calls the local Italians "crooks". He won't vote one into local office. He is also racist against every other race you can think of. Not very racist; he's friends with them and teaches their children etc. It's just the ones he "doesn't know" that he says things about. I'm not trying to justify it, I'm just saying he's not walking around in white robes!!!

My mom is slightly racist as well and homophobic on top of it. My dad is too, though not nearly as bad. Neither of them would have been accepting if myself or my brother had been homosexual, but I *think* my dad would have accepted it faster. He at least doesn't consider it a sin since he's agnostic XD.

It's hard to feel what is a racist/prejudiced reaction and what is an honest reaction; it's really hard to tell inside.

Racism is ugly....homophobia is gay....bigotry is stupid...I think if you are a closet racist then you are a racist...a closet homophobic makes you homophobic, etc... every one has a good excuse as to why they hate others that are different and most are closet cases about it which also makes them chicken poop!...sad.. Just because your not in a white KKK robe doesn't make it OK...my parents are racists too but they don't consider themselves racist...idiots

" There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch. "

-Nigel Powers