What Do You Stand For?

The Hippies stand for: Peace, Love, Compassion, and the Redistribution of Wealth.

Generation X stand for: War, Hate, Cruelty, Greed, and Cupidity.

What do you stand for?

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Same-Sex Love.

Spirituality has a history of Same-Sex Love.

Ancient Yogis and Teachers emphasized the love relationship with their male disciples.

The Same Sex Love relationship between King David - the writer of the Psalms - and Jonathan is celebrated in the Bible.

The disciple that Jesus loved was a man - the Disciple John - who laid his head over Jesus' heart at the Last Supper.

And Jesus said to Peter: "Do you love me?" three times.  John 21:15-17 (NRSV)

Islamic Sufism boasts the famous love relationship between Rumi and Shams-i-Tabrizi (two men).

And my own Yogi - Shri Vijayadev Yogendra - is the son of Founder who was loved by the Yogi Paramhamsaji.

When the two men met Mani (later called Founder) was an 18 year old muscleman with a Mr. Universe physique.

So, rather than being frowned upon, Same-Sex Love is the very foundation stone of Spirituality.

(NB It is Traditional.)

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Homosexuality.

Homosexuality has been made a scapegoat by evil forces in our society.

And right-wing political parties have taken advantage of this to boost support.

In response to the AIDS crisis Generation X retreated into the safety of heterosexuality.

But at the same time their fear entrenched virulent homophobia.

And it is this homophobia which we are now confronted with.

The booing of AFL footballer Isaac Quaynor for reporting a homophobic slur is a blatant example of this.

It is unacceptable and it should not be tolerated.

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The Tombs of the Prophets.

Jesus said: "'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, "If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets."  Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets.'"  Matthew 23: 29-31 (NRSV)

[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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The Passion of Jesus.

The Passion and death of Jesus is not some ransom for our sins demanded by an angry God.

But it is the vengeance and violence of the established worldly powers.

And a return to the dominance and brutality of the rich and powerful.

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Money.

At the root of the betrayal of the masses by conservative Christians is money!

The rich and powerful have formed an alliance with traditional Christianity that usurps the power of God and enslaves the masses.

This has been done since the time of the Pharaohs.

And it continues today.

The ruling powers of this world use violence and threat to subjugate the good to their wills and establish absolute power.

And absolute power corrupts absolutely.

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Weapons.

The rich and powerful of this world use the unconventional weapons* in Christianity to suppress and destroy any opposition to their rule on Earth. 

And so damnation, shaming, and blaming have become weapons in the hands of ruthless right-wing political and economic leaders.

(*Ronald Reagan was quoted as saying: "Christianity contains unconventional weapons.")

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