Tax exempt

I’m so depressed right now. I watch a lot of documentaries and tend to watch them on a theme when I can find a lot on the same topic. This weekend, I’ve watched four on homosexual rights–three of which were more specifically about how various religions oppress and bully homosexuals either within their own ranks or in general: Baptists, Jews, and Mormons. The one I just watched was more specifically about Proposition 8, the law that passed in California in the 2008 elections that forced the line about “marriage is between a man and a woman” into that state’s constitution. The election was unduly bought by the Mormon church, a procedure that isn’t supposed to happen because churches aren’t supposed to try and influence political elections using large amounts of money or manpower. The egregious amount of money the LDS church dumped into the 2008 election in California definitely qualifies as a church influencing the outcome of an election, but can the taxpayers and voters question the church’s role in the election? No. They’re a tax exempt institution and don’t have to answer to the taxpayers or voters. Does this make sense? I’ve had issues for a long time now about the fact that churches act outside the law in so many instances, claiming religious freedom and rights and immunity. Fuck that. The problem I have with the Mormon church getting away with buying an election is the same problem I have with the Catholic church refusing to hand child-molesting priests over to the legal authorities of a city, county, state, whatever. Instead, those priests get shunted around from parish to parish where they can continue to abuse and harm the youth of this country until finally forced into retirement in a cloistered community. Why? Because they’re priests, they get to answer to the almighty Church rather than the police or the courts. It’s only when the Church can’t sweep the guy under the rug quickly enough that he gets thrust into the public eye and faces any sort of legal charges. I’ve read far too many articles and seen too many interviews, documentaries, and news shows about it to be told that this isn’t how the Church operates. Public accountability goes right out the window for churches, and they scream “inequality” if someone tries to make them take the same responsibilities a company or public office would have to have. These same bastards who scream “inequality” over every little thing are the same jackasses who won’t give equality to other humans who are OUTSIDE their purview. If churches don’t want the government’s hands on them because they don’t feel they fall under the state’s jurisdiction, then the same fucking churches should keep their hands off the people who aren’t part of their cultish ranks. If I want to be bisexual, dandy. If I want to be bisexual and be Catholic, then I have to take it up with my church. If I can’t reconcile being bisexual and Catholic at the same time because the almighty Church doesn’t like it, then I have to consider which is more important to me as part of my identity and how I want to live my life. Some people can have a different sexual orientation and feel fine as part of a church. I sure as hell couldn’t, and I spent the better part of two years in therapy overcoming the dysphoria and self-loathing as a result. In the end, other factors also came into play in deciding to leave not only the church but the ridiculous belief in an imaginary person looming over my every action and thought like a stern Santa Claus who metes out fear and guilt regardless of how good or bad I’ve been. Yeah, I totally get the feelings of the gays and lesbians in these documentaries who want to have the same rights and be left alone much like the rest of the human population on Earth. Watching how churches interfere in the daily lives of innocent people makes me wonder why these same churches aren’t putting all this money and effort into stopping crime or feeding the hungry or clothing the poor. Sure, some of them do some of that, but when several hundred million dollars are spent just so a tiny percentage of the population can’t have the same rights as everyone else, it makes me question the priorities of these “merciful and holy” fuckers. Pisses me off.

I haven’t posted in a while mostly because there’s little going on in my life beyond work and video games, but I’m just too agitated to play a game right now, and typing often helps alleviate some of my annoyance. Can’t say that what I type about doesn’t annoy other people, but it’s my blog and my random thoughts, so whatever. This isn’t anything that I wouldn’t say to anyone polling me about equality or religion or any other topic, though I might clean my language up…slightly.

If Indiana ever decides to try and pass some stupid law about banning same-sex marriages, you can bet I’ll be on the streets fighting it. I don’t get emotional about most political/religious issues, but this hits me on two fronts: my sexuality and my desire to be free from religion. These are two very defining factors in my life, so it’s one of my few hot topics. I’m married to Ian, and I doubt that’ll change short of him dying, so the odds of me marrying a woman in my lifetime are relatively slim. Regardless, I want to be able to have that option and I want other people to have that option too. I just don’t understand why churches feel the need to butt into public issues. I’ve been trying to be more tolerant of religious mysticism and ritual, but when churches do stuff like this, it makes me want them all to disappear forever. I’m sure most churches feel the same way about people like me.

2 thoughts on “Tax exempt

  1. Rook

    Humans…:

    … not very logical creatures… AT ALL!!

    Religion… politics… I hate both of them. It makes me wish I could live out in the middle of nowhere away from both of them… but I would miss my electricity and what not…

  2. Erando

    Yeah:

    You wouldn't do well with no internet. 😉 And I think the reason why I get so annoyed with humanity is because I know how much potential people have to do good and amazing things. Instead, they waste their time creating differences and conflict over issues that aren't important like not eating meat on Fridays or discriminating against a harmless group of people like blacks, Jews, homosexuals, women, etc. People could do so much if they'd just get over these pointless superstitions and myths and move onto important issues like the well-being of their fellow humans. Humanity has a lot of room for improvement.

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