Another glorious day in South Wales today. And guess what? Me and Laura both had a day off! So to the seaside we went. We played mini golf had ice cream and Porthcawl chips, and soaked up the sun :-) . Looking out at the sea we both were rendered speechless. The vista was moving and the moment made us both truly relaxed but what to say? Laura actually voiced the thought first "I don't know what to say". And neither did I.
A religious person could comment on the wonder of God's creation. I'm a total atheist and Laura has had some issues with the church of late. Lovers would profess the pleasure of being together in the moment. Once again that doesn't apply, Laura and I are friends, good friends. Laura is gay and I myself am a celebate priest of nerdery. (Ironically given my lack of faith if I'd lived 200 years ago I'm pretty sure I would have been a priest.). Silence is good too though, not prayer, not awkward silence or a moment of zen, just a nice silence.
We eventually talked about the reason why people once believed the earth was flat. Staring out at the horizon I saw the curvature and it seemed so hard to imagine such a backward time. People resisted the change in "world shape theory". There is a story about a lady who insisted the world rested on the back of a giant turtle. When asked what that turtle walked on, she replied "another turtle, it's turtles all the way down."
When people have a fixed world view it takes a lot to change it. Laura's recent issue with her church concerns the bigoted views of the vicar there and how he abused his power to present them to the congregation. And not just as his opinion, but as the opinion of the church and of God (using carefully selected bits of the bible as an excuse of course). He included a request to sign an anti-gay marriage petition in the hymn sheet announcement leaflet thing (a old communication technology conveying an equally archaic point of view.)
The issue of gay marriages being called "marriages" seems to annoy some people a great deal. They say ''civil unions are ok" but you know they are the people who protested those when they started too. What the plackards and petitions should read if they were honest is "Say NO to CHANGE" the main currencies of religions are hope and fear. Giving hope is hard, especially when people are presented with so much hope outside of the church. But fear is easy. That's why politicians and advertisers use it so often. Fear of "the other", "the different" is engrained in our genetic code. But we are not our genes. We are not cavemen fearing other tribes that come from beyond that horizon. We have evolved. But then again the church has a bit of a problem with that too.
The further society evolves toward true social justice, the further out of touch the church seems. At a time in our past, religion was a point of light in the darkness, more loving than the cruelties of the world at large and offering promise of a brighter tomorrow. Well it's tomorrow now. It's sunny and there is a big gay rainbow on the horizon.
Related thing
image source: etsyqueers.blogspot.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment