“Religion in general still presents the greatest obstacles we face in full equality. Ninety-five percent of the oppression that we know in our lives comes from the religious community.” —Episcopal Church Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who’s descended upon Washington with other religious leaders in a “Clergy Call” to urge the Senate to pass hate crimes legislation [Washington Times]
Soundbites
Bishop Gene Robinson: Religion Responsible for 95% of Oppression
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Peter
Nothing new here. Just read history; nearly all the wars and violence on this planet have a “religious” ignition. The religions that produce all that hate must really be proud of their accomplishments.
Zakakaka
That is soooo religiuous!
Tallskin
Good Men Do Good Deeds
Evil Men Commit Evil Acts
But To Make A Good Man Commit An Evil Act You Need Religion.
(with apologies to) Steven Weinberg
strumpetwindsock
@Tallskin:
..or fascism, stalinism, McCarthyism or any one of a number of closed-minded political philosophies.
But I take your point. It’s good to see people speaking out against it within the religious community.
Mark
Combine alcoholism with religion and you’ve got a winning combo.
atdleft
Bravo to Bishop Robinson for speaking the truth. So who in DC is listening?
Jerry Priori
His devotion to Bronze Age superstition makes him part of the problem. The answer to conservative religion isn’t liberal religion–it’s recognizing the emperor truly has no clothes and ditching the whole thing. Don’t be afraid of throwing the baby Jesus out with the bathwater because there is no baby Jesus.
AlanInSLC
The more I hear about the hate religions influence on the world, the more I believe that religions are the creation of the devil. A sneaky way to feel like its a good thing, but really the outcome is just spreading hate throughout by work of man acting like they are messengers of GOD. The spirit and spirituality was created by GOD, and he/she doesn’t need messengers to spread his lessons. Those happen naturally by him and noone else.
MY OPINION!!!
Smokey Martini
While I agree that religion has much to do with oppressive conditions, I’m more intrigued by the percentage. Where did Robinson come up with that number?!
TANK
@Jerry Priori:
Someone gets it…
Walter
Strumpet is right. It’s the group or herd mentality, which has afflicted mankind regardless of religion. Us vs them. Our clan or nation is better than yours. My dad can beat your dad. Blame religion? c’mon, that’s just a red herring.
Dan
I feel that the Washington Times story was biased. It gave only one side of Bishop Robinson’s viewpoint. After the interview, he “called religious support of marriage equality ‘the big unreported story’,” according to the Advocate.com.
“‘I think the media has bought into what the rest of us has, which is that the religious right speaks for Christians,’ he said. ‘One of the things I keep saying is that progressive Christians need to find their voice, and to take back the scriptures, which I think have been held hostage by the Christian right.'”
I totally agree with him on that point. The media are always giving the evangelical right a mouthpiece as it claims to speak for God, the Bible, and all Christians. When was the last time they reported any progressive religious voice on marriage equality or any other LGBT rights issue?
I agree with Strumpet and Walter too. Give people a common enemy or greatly unequal power, and you can whip them into a frenzy. The trappings can be religious or secular. It’s a fascinating (to me) field of social psychology.
Bill Perdue
@strumpetwindsock: say
Strumpet left out ‘liberalism’, represented in the US is by the right centrist Democratic (sic) Party. They’re infamous for their spineless fence sitting and unprincipled electoral pandering. The vast majority of Democrats voted for DOMA and tried to use it against the Republicans, but Republicans, past masters at using anti-GLBT bigotry (Clinton’s DOMA) and racism (Willie Horton), turned it on the Democrats and whipped them in 2000 and 2004.
Both Clinton and Obama, smarting from their party’s defeats in 2000 and 2004 decided to become pigheaded opponents of same sex marriage to take the wind out of Republican sails. They promoted anti-LGBT bigotry. Obama in particular is still fighting the battle of 2004 using non-stop pandering to christer bigots. A huge part of his campaign was organizing them into Obamabot religious support groups. The irony is that the GLBT movement has been able to turn the poll numbers around by organizing a series of ongoing demonstrations in the aftermath of Obama’s “gawd’s in the mix” which torpedoed SSM last November.
We’re winning over large numbers of people revolted by christer bigotry and that’s reflected in a number of recent court and legislative decisions.
Liberalism is a dead end. Dependence on liberal politicians like Obama and Clinton is synonymous with opposition to our equality agenda.
Joanaroo
Not surprising! Look at how many people have died in the name of religion and its hatred of the different.