Freedom of Religion

I’m not a religious person, but I appreciate those religions that bring us together and encourage acts of benevolence. On the other hand, I don’t appreciate people who promote fanatical adherence to their own particular religious ideas and make life hard for others who don’t share their beliefs. Which is why I prefer Pete Buttigieg’s religiosity to Mike Pence’s.

Vice President Pence has been in a verbal feud with Mayor Pete lately, largely because Buttigieg is a rising star in the Democratic Party and is running for president as an openly gay candidate married to his husband, Chasten. Pence has made a name for himself by opposing gay marriage and promoting the idea that being gay is a choice. As governor of Indiana, he signed a bill aimed at restricting the rights of LGBTQ people.

I am baffled by people who regard being gay as a choice. I can assure all who may ask that I did not “choose” my heterosexual proclivities. They came onto me in full force sometime around 1960, and choice had nothing to do with it.

Does Mr. Pence believe that Mr. Buttigieg chose to be gay just to be cool? Or because he wanted to annoy Jesus? There’s no evidence for the latter, given that Mayor Pete has made Christianity a spiritual touchstone in his life. And the mayor’s Christianity, by the way, is, in my opinion, the best kind: it calls for an open-hearted, compassionate, and understanding attitude toward all people no matter what their religion might be. Or might not be in the case of those who have no religion.

To be fair, I suppose even Mayor Pete’s generous religious spirit would draw the line at some point. I say this because I remember a hilarious Gahan Wilson cartoon in which a man complained of his family fleeing their homeland because they were persecuted for their religion. Meanwhile, just over his shoulder could be seen a ghastly portrait of an evil, grinning Satan.

And even the most religiously tolerant citizen might declare the bloody rituals of traditional Aztec sun-worship off limits.

 But I digress. My point is that I believe a person can be as religious as he or she likes, but not to the point of using religion to demonize, make life hard for, or cut out the beating hearts of the rest of us. It is, after all, fundamentally selfish and self-serving to declare that You Know what the word of God is. I get the feeling that a lot of hardcore Christians are not worshiping God so much as their own interpretation of God, which is to say, they are really worshiping themselves.

As a non-believer, I have no standing to explain the essential nature of God. But if I did, I would guess that a twenty-first century Jesus might express himself through words like these, “Verily I say unto you, blessed are those who love each other and in the light of that love choose to marry.”