I'm getting increasingly tired of people claiming to be Christian, and at the same time, claiming that ignorance, discrimination, sexism, hatred, and intolerance are an inherent part of their religion. This is not the Christianity that I believe, nor is it consistent with my reading of Jesus.
So here are 10 arguments I'm tired of having - in no particular order.
1. Neither women's capacity to reproduce, nor their right to autonomy over that capacity, are a threat to Christianity.
2. Jesus told us to welcome strangers, not ask for their papers.
3. Jesus told us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. He did not ask for a drug test first to see if they deserved it.
4. Jesus healed people. He didn't ask for an insurance card, and he sure as hell didn't say "let 'em die" if they couldn't pay for the care.
5. No one has a divine right to own a gun. I'm pretty sure killing is not cool within Christianity.
6. What would Jesus do? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't claim that any kind of discrimination in his name is an exercise of religious freedom.
7. Religion and science are not in competition. Knowledge blesses God. Neither science, nor history, nor geology, nor climatology, nor evolution, nor any other kind of scholarship are threatening to God or to Christianity. (If you're the kind of Christian who is threatened by these things, then blame your own lack of imagination, not Christianity.)
8. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and queer folks are made in God's image. God loves them. And if Jesus were around in June, I'm pretty sure he'd be marching in pride parades.
9. I'm a Christian and I think free contraception is a good idea. Might even save lives. Pretty sure there's nothing about Christianity that is in conflict with contraception.
10. The only thing that can be interpreted from the Bible about marriage is that the definition of marriage has evolved over time. No reason why it can't continue to evolve.
