Some witch groups have gotten together and have written a letter condemning Pat Robertson for his recent remarks concerning another country's leader. Mr. Pat Robertson apparently wishes that particular human being dead. Mr. Pat Robertson is an evangelist and a christian. He has used prayer for cursing rather than for blessing.
I too object to Mr. Pat Robertson's recent display of prejuidice. While I believe along with Howard Stern that "I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it," I also have a right and a responsibility to speak out against injustice when I see it or hear about it.
What I see happening in the United States is an outbreak of hatred. The evangelicals and the fundamentalists got their man in the White House. Now some christians are claiming "persecution."
These same people who claim persecution for their beliefs would deny me my basic human rights to love who I love, to commune with the gods and goddesses of my choosing or to be free from all religions, to raise my children without interference through the "teaching" of "intelligent design" (a ploy for getting creationism taught in science classes in public schools)...
How many christians have been asked to leave a hotel during vacation because they are christian? Two gay men were recently asked to leave a hotel in Maine after one night. Why? The owner objected to them sharing a bed. [The staff person who took their reservation did not mention that the owner might object.] The two men were forced to hotel-hop for the rest of their vacation. It was during Maine's busy tourist season and none of the hotels in the area had a room available for six nights. The right to public accomodation exists for christians and for heterosexuals. It does not exist for non-heterosexuals in many states whether or not the non-heterosexuals are christians.
How many christians have been told that they cannot run for office? In some states, a law remains on the books excluding nontheists from holding public office.
How many christians have been fired from their jobs just for being christian? People who are not heterosexual are terminated from employment due to their sexual orientation. They are shown the door because of a state of being. People who lose their jobs because they are homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered are not being caught having same-gender orgies in the stairwells.
How many christians have been excluded from the hospital bedsides of their spouses? Are excluded from survivor benefits for 9-11? Same-gendered couples routinely experience these things.
Are told as kids by classmates that they are condemned to "hell" because they are not part of the "frozen chosen?" Many children who are being raised as non-theists or pagan have had the experience. In my own sixth grade class, a classmate who was being raised as a unitarian was put on the hot seat by other classmates because she did not believe in any god and she acknowledged evolution as the best explanation for the beginnings of humankind.
Commit suicide because as teenagers they find that they are christian? The suicide rate of teens who are homosexual or lesbian is astronomical. I also am personally acquianted with teens who were kicked out of their homes because they are gay or lesbian or bisexual.
How many christians find that other voters in a state [like Maine] are interested in denying them their right to vote because they reside in a group home for being christian and must have a representative payee for their SSD checks? In Maine, a person residing in a group home must have a representative payee for their SSD checks. In Maine, a person with a representative payee for their SSD check is denied the right to VOTE. Not everyone who resides in a group home has a developmental disability. [what used to be called "retarded"] People with mental conditions or brain injuries or learning disabilities who happen to land in a group home in Maine cannot vote. People with developmental disabilities who are interested can be taught how to become a successful voter. But this does not happen in Maine's group homes.
How many christians were ever forced to sit in the back of the bus or the subject of a protest to end segregation because they were christian--unless they were also people of color? Prejuidice did not end with the Emancipation Proclamation. My little sister at the age of two was taught to refer to little black kids as "chocolate babies." My little sister was not taught to make fun of other christians.
How many christians are kept out of public building by virtue of their christianity? A woman in a southern state who is a wheelchair user had to crawl up the stairs to attend a court hearing about a legal matter. There was no elevator. When she refused to crawl up the stairs a second time on a different date, she was ticketed for non-appearance. People who are mobility-impaired are routinely not able to access some public buildings or some restaurants or some museums due to physical barriers. People who use wheelchairs find that many public forms of transportation
--like most buses--are inaccessible. So they wait for the "special" bus-- if there is one.
Please don't talk to me about persecution until you have walked in my sneakers. Because although you have a right to claim persecution for your freely held beliefs, I have experienced prejuidice and discrimination for my state of being. Shout all you want to but I will not be listening.
I will be out there fighting for my basic human rights as a bisexual, as a person with disabilities, and as a pagan witch. I will be out there fighting for the lesbian who lost her children because of who she is. I will be out there fighting for the "mentally ill" people in Maine residing in group homes who are denied access to the voting booth. I will be out there fighting for the wheelchair user who refuses to crawl up courthouse steps and who is blocking non-accessible buses with my comrades from ADAPT. I will be out there fighting to ensure that public school education remains free from the demands of the creationist non-science people and free from christian recruiting.
The witchvox link I have provided is a source of news for witches and pagans.
The artwork is my own, made with the help of "Paint Pro."
No comments:
Post a Comment