Unconditional love
by Tyler Jane Barley

Last week the Catholic Church (U.S.) declared that parents should love their homosexual children, even though those children are more than likely fornicators and thus are naughty in God's sight.

Well, it's better than nothing. I actually know a couple gay Catholics, and they're the sort who found grim amusement in the old Sam Kinison routine about the Pope visiting San Francisco ("Nope, get him away, he's got dick on his breath."). These folks are among bravest souls around. They actually have the balls to stay in a church that has declared war upon them. Now they, and lots of people like them, are somewhat vindicated.

The admission of the Church that homosexuality may not be a choice (and that's how the pastoral letter read) is groundbreaking. A few of the more liberal Protestant denomenations got here a while ago, but, come on, when was the last time you knew a Methodist? Hell, I was raised Lutheran, a denomenation which is sorely underrepresented in the "new" South. We were taught that even murderers deserved our love. They taught us to love everybody, except maybe the Baptists, who always kicked our butts in the Tuesday night softball league.

This letter seems almost like a millennial announcement. Two thousand years or so after the martyrdom and resurrection of Christ, the supposed original Church finally decides it would be a good idea if regular churchgoing folk acted in accordance with the example of Jesus. It's so simple, it's perfect.

Now, of course, Jesus didn't minister to gays. At least, none of the Gospel writers bothered to mention it. But Jesus was kind and compassionate to everyone except the scribes and the Pharisees and other authority figures. He ministered to whores, lepers (the AIDS patients of the day) and even tax collectors. He wandered around, munching on other people's crops (on the Sabbath, even) and preached a message of love. If there had been a VW dealer in Jerusalem at the time, he would have piled everyone into his bus and let the children paint flowers and peace signs on the chassis.

What I don't like is the way folks have twisted his pretty damned simple message. Jesus preached the golden rule, and he preached that it should be used proactively. So in other words, if you see a poor man in the gutter, help him out. Because you would like someone to help you if you were in such dire straits.

To phrase it in a way that relates to this column, if your kid is gay, love them as much as you would if they were straight. Because that's how you would want it.

Well, duh.

I'm extremely tired of people using religion as an excuse for hating people. Americans have been doing this since the white folks showed up. Actually, I'm sure plenty of American Indian shamans used a spiritual exhortation before battling another tribe. But the Europeans, having perfected this technique during the Crusades, really kicked things into high gear. The Indians had to be converted or killed, and then the slaves had to be slaves because of some minor passage that a bigoted preacher found while bombed on bourbon. The same folks made the same excuses for segregation. And, of course, since black folks (slaves or otherwise) weren't considered people, the golden rule didn't apply to them anyway.

Guess what? The same excuses have been made for hating homosexuals, doctors who perform abortions, rap stars, whatever. I'm tired of all the hate. I've got white friends who say that they'd like to be nicer to black people, but all the black people they meet seem to hate them. These folks are learning the lesson that hate begets hate, but they haven't discovered the converse: Love begets love. Now, there's a Biblical lineage I can get into.

Sometimes it is just this simple: Love thy neighbor as thyself. Hey, once the ball gets rolling, who knows where it will end.

Tyler Jane Barley is still searching for peace, love and understanding in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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