This week Lady Gaga dropped "Born This Way" and I found myself wondering if Daniel surviving the lions was the last time that a Christian laid bare their faith and risked their life for what they believe.
Now, I'm not stupid. I know that there are, today in our modern, war-torn, corrupt world, a great many missionaries that travel to dangerous places and risk their lives (and often the lives of their children) to spread the Word. But that isn't the type of life risking I'm talking about. I mean the type of risk when we dare to actually question the word (see the little w?) we're fed opposed to the Word (great big W) we *feel.*
The Word we *know* to be truth.
The Word not found in the selective books of our modern Bible but in the darker origin places of our primeval hearts.
Contrary to what the (yes, liberal) media seems to be feeding us, there has not been a rise in gay teen suicides or bashings. There are not (suddenly!) more bigots pushing our kids over the edge. There have always been gay kids dying. It was an Epidemic even before AIDS was an Epidemic. The only thing that's changed (other than having a Black, pro-gay, pro-family, decent, truly American "all men are created equal and deserve certain rights" president for once) is that right now, in our current culture primed by Ellen and Rosie and Adam and Elton, it's actually okay to *care.*
Right now, it's okay to see a gay teen dying as a horrible, disgusting, horrendous waste of life. A needless waste of life. Does it shock you that it hasn't always been okay to see that? (I don't remember any major media talking about the *four* all-grown-up lesbians shot to death in the good ole US of A in the '80s. Do you? Guess gay wasn't okay enough in the '80s.)
It seems that every time I turn on the radio, every (woman) pop/rock/alt star is pimping that different is okay. This theme has been repackaged and coined so much in the last few months that it's practically its own genre: Anthem Rock. And don't worry if kissing a girl wasn't supportive enough, you can always set off fireworks. And if you're too cool to be too school? No prob. You're still f-ing perfect. Eventually we'll have an entire CD worth of up-beat, up-tempo anthems that some savvy entrepreneur (like Simon Cowell or NOW) will compile and fling out at Pride Marches.
Don't read me wrong. I really like a lot of these songs and I think the singers really mean what their preaching. I am actually proud that liberal, relatively far-left musicians have stepped up the visibility game and brought the message to the people. I know more folks who have made an It Gets Better video than who haven't.
My issue is this: Where is the right?
(oh, did you see that little r?)
And I don't just mean the far-right. I mean the middling-right and the gently-right, and the leaning-right. Where are the preachers and the conservatives and the pastors and the Sunday School teachers? What are they doing to make sure that those steady numbers of gay teen suicides actually drop for once? Where is *their* out-reach?
Hypocrisy is a hard thing. We all fall into its trap once or twice or fifty-seven times, but there's a certain type of hypocrisy that's special. Kind of chocolate coated and really sticky. Can a pastor reach out to a (suspected) gay youth without slipping in little bon mots about "right" and "wrong" and turning away from "sin"? Is it okay to save the kid if he still grows up to be a queer? Will you believe God made him that way, even when science proves he's gay in utero? Will you protect the rights of an unborn gay kid?
And if you've told them all that they're going to go to hell, what do you care if they're dead? It's just a great big prediction come true, right? Or was their hell actually living in a world with literal-minded zealots like you? My you enjoy the rest of your names not wearing mixed fibers and staying away from your wife on her period (or any other time you're not making babies).
I like how devout Christians love to gloss over that great little turn in the Bible that talks about how much rejoicing occurs when a lost soul finds God. While the lil patent leathers stand on their holy pedestals singing their own praise, Christ has His back turned because He's trying to wave a heavenly sign at a bunch of boys trading vogue moves. The sign reads: FACT: GOD MADE YOU. FICTION: THEY DON'T KNOW GOD.
Maybe fire and brimstone Christians are just scared that heaven will be too crowded. Personally, I think it will be a lot more fun (and fashionable) with all the gays.
