United States Tax Dollars at Work

So I came across an odd bit of legislation passed a few days ago.

Whereas Christmas, a holiday of great significance to Americans and many other cultures and nationalities, is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States and the world;

Whereas there are approximately 225,000,000 Christians in the United States, making Christianity the religion of over three-fourths of the American population;

Whereas there are approximately 2,000,000,000 Christians throughout the world, making Christianity the largest religion in the world and the religion of about one-third of the world population;

Whereas identify themselves as those who believe in the salvation from sin offered to them through the sacrifice of their savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and who, out of gratitude for the gift of salvation, commit themselves to living their lives in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Bible;Whereas Christians Christians and Christianity have contributed greatly to the development of western civilization;

Whereas the United States, being founded as a constitutional republic in the traditions of western civilization, finds much in its history that points observers back to its Judeo-Christian roots;

Whereas on December 25 of each calendar year, American Christians observe Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ;

Whereas for Christians, Christmas is celebrated as a recognition of God’s redemption, mercy, and Grace; and

Whereas many Christians and non-Christians throughout the United States and the rest of the world, celebrate Christmas as a time to serve others: Now, therefore, be it

(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;

(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;

(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and

(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.

It’s disappointing that Congress is willing to pass resolutions to respect the establishment of a religion, but is still unwilling to extend basic human rights to every person living in the United States.

I half-expect this kind of thing to dovetail with the domestic terrorism and thoughtcrime bill, and by this time next year we’ll be throwing people into Gitmo for saying “Happy Holidays.”

So for all of you besieged Christians out there, who know that the pagan hordes are coming to tear down Christmas, a Happy Holidays to each and every one of you.

Why The Pope Hates Trans People

Monica Roberts describes how the Catholic Church has taken such a transphobic stance.

In addition to killing the gender program at John Hopkins and writing transmisogynistic screeds, McHugh considers himself the originator of the “two types” theory - that is, homosexual transsexuals and autogynephile transsexuals - that Bailey, Blanchard, and Lawrence have attempted to popularize.

Monica reports that Dr. McHugh was the primary advisor to the Vatican regarding its stance on transsexual and intersexed people - a stance that is actively harmful, given the Catholic Church’s influence in much of the world.

It’s deadly that so much policy surrounding trans people is influenced by virulent transphobic and transmisogynistic people who use their positions to legitimize and reinforce the kind of bigotry that makes it okay to see us as subhuman, or to value our lives less.

Monica also points out that some of the Catholic membership is not so impressed with this bigotry.

 Read her article on this - Hell, read her whole blog. She’s one of the best bloggers on trans issues I’ve read.

Gay-Hatin’ Gospel

Fred Clark of Slacktivist unpacks some of the reasons the christian right targets homosexuality so harshly. This is about homophobia, but I don’t believe it’s possible to completely disentangle transphobia and homophobia; evangelical Christianity applies these arguments to us without really considering transgenderism and transsexualism as orthogonal to sexual orientation:

Theory No. 1: The Safe Target - Here, he explains how homosexuality is a “safe” sin, because most of the congregation never feels the temptation to engage in it.

Theory No. 2: Inner Demons - This one is about closeted homophobes.

Theory No. 3: The Innocent Backlash - Blaming the victim - “If you weren’t so insistent on being treated like human beings, we wouldn’t try to smack you down so much.”

Theory No. 4: The Exegetical Panic Defense - I’ll use Fred’s words here:

“We see through a glass, darkly,” St. Paul said, warning against the temptation to chase the will-o’-the-wisp of certainty. But American evangelicalism is largely based on the idea that certainty is not only possible, but necessary. Mandatory, even. This certainty can be achieved thanks to the one-legged stool of the Evangelical Unilateral.

That’s a made-up term, but it describes something real. It’s a play on the “Wesleyan Quadrilateral” — an approach to theological thinking that relies on the four foundations of scripture, tradition/community, reason and experience.

The evangelical approach to theological thinking is exactly like this Wesleyan method, except it doesn’t include tradition or community. Or reason. Or experience.

Theory No. 5: It’s the Politics, Stupid - Discusses why, of all biblical prohibitions, those against homosexuality are emphasized.

This isn’t an attack on Christianity in general. It’s specifically an examination of the homophobia from the evangelical christian right - something that is an undeniable cultural influence in present-day America.