Preaching hate, when it should be love

I'm not a religious person in the traditional sense.

But, although my family has mixed roots (Jewish, Apache, Irish, etc.), I am the daughter of a former clergyman, and I have read the Bible cover to cover.

I know enough to believe that, as a great bumper sticker says, the Christian right is neither.

I am writing this because I am tired of people who supposedly follow Jesus distorting his message.

I am tired of megachurches, including one near my own town, firing off hateful messages about homosexuality.

Why not leave consenting, loving adults alone? Why not tackle the real issues that are simply shameful in this rich country of ours, like children living in poverty and hunger?

Apparently it's much easier to rile people up. Never mind that, as you'll note if you read the scriptures, Christ never talked about homosexuality. He never talked about family. He didn't even have a wife or kids.

He hung out in what would be considered low company: beggars, prostitutes, adulterers, and other poor people were his companions. The group he hated most of all? Hypocrites.

And that's exactly what these hate-mongers are. What happened to judge not, and ye shall not be judged?

What's even more disgusting, though, is people who are really bigots - or who side with bigots - and duck under the name of Christianity.

Take Washington State Sen. Brian Hatfield. He's a Democrat in a safe, safe district. He's been waffling on support for a bill that would grant just a few rights to same-sex couples that straight couples take for granted.

And when pressed for a real response about his support regarding the bill (as opposed to sending constituents a form e-mail saying he was "torn" about it), he told a group of supporters of the bill - many of whom are gay Christians - that he was a born again, and his church members said they were afraid of losing their rights if a gay rights bill passed.

Excuse me? This last bit defies logic. Hatfield, if he really buys into it, is dumb enough to be ousted from his seat.

Then he went on to say that the bill would probably pass anyway without his support.

Personally, I think I'd rather have him say, "Fuck the gays, I'm not in favor of equal rights," and have him be honest about it.

But he'd rather straddle the fence. Won't do any damage, obviously, because his balls are nonexistent.

What was that part from Dante's Inferno about the hottest places in hell being reserved for those who are neutral in times of crisis?