I was just listening to NPR, and they were touting a story that will be popping up later today on All Things Considered: that military Chaplains, facing the repeal of DADT, will now have to choose between serving their country and upholding their faith.
Now?
Now?!
You are a military chaplain. Your flock shoots people in the head professionally. They are, by job description, violating one of the Ten Commandments. If you have found it in your heart and your theology to wriggle your way out of this, then you should really be able to find a way to minister to people who are:
- Breaking no Commandments. It's true. There's no Commandment against gay sex. I guess it could be a form of coveting, but then most of your straight soldiers are probably already breaking that too.
- Not doing anything Jesus told them not to do. Fun fact: Jesus never spoke of homosexuality in the Bible.
- ALREADY WITHIN YOUR MINISTRY. The gays in the military are already there, part of your flock. They're just lying about who they are, A.K.A. bearing false witness, technically breaking a Commandment to cover up what is, at best, a lesser sin in the Old Testament.
... I could make this list longer, but I titled this "Short and Sweet." Theologically, there is very little Biblical support for hating gays. Most of the references to gay sex in the Bible were in situations that were also prostitution, so it's impossible to determine which part the Bible actually had a problem with. Jesus never talked about it. The old Testament never wrote any commandments about it. Yet religious leaders have decided that this one thing, which may not even be a sin, has to be the thing that sticks in your craw.
Short and sweet: you are hypocrites. Shut up.