Hi Mike,

I can barely think clearly this morning. I’ve just checked on my assignments for the week for my Race class. I can’t believe what I am expected to do, and I’m stunned! I need help sorting through this. I feel I shouldn’t even partake of this nonsense and just take an “F”. I am to watch a 90 min. video on Homosexual bigotry by “Christians” titled “For The Bible Tells Me So”, answer a heterosexual questionnaire, which I’ve copied for you following this and respond to the “Christian Bigotry Essay” which is also below, then write a three page paper on how Christian bigotry affects homosexuals.
I am going to discuss this with my husband of course, but he’s at work now, and I am overwhelmed and stunned, and your help and prayers would give me some clarity, I hope.

Your sister in Christ,
C____

Questionnaire

1. What do you think caused your heterosexuality?
2. When and how did you first decide you were a heterosexual?
3. Is it possible your heterosexuality is just a phase you may grow out of?
4. Could it be that your heterosexuality stems from a neurotic fear of others of the same sex?
5. If you’ve never slept with a person of the same sex, how can you be sure you wouldn’t prefer that?
6. To whom have you disclosed your heterosexual tendencies? How did they react?
7. Why do heterosexuals feel compelled to seduce others into their lifestyle?
8. Why do you insist on flaunting your heterosexuality? Can’t you just be what you are and keep it quiet?
9. Would you want your children to be heterosexual, knowing the problems they’d face?
10. A disproportionate majority of child molesters are heterosexual men. Do you consider it safe to expose children to heterosexual male teachers, pediatricians, priests, or scoutmasters?
11. With all the societal support for marriage, the divorce rate is spiraling. Why are there so few stable relationships among heterosexuals?
12. Why do heterosexuals place so much emphasis on sex?
13. Considering the menace of overpopulation, how could the human race survive if everyone were heterosexual?
14. Could you trust a heterosexual therapist to be objective? Don’t you fear s/ he might be inclined to influence you in the direction of her/ his own leanings?
15. Heterosexuals are notorious for assigning themselves and one another rigid, stereotyped sex roles. Why must you cling to such unhealthy role- playing?
16. With the sexually segregated living conditions of military life, isn’t heterosexuality incompatible with military service?
17. How can you enjoy an emotionally fulfilling experience with a person of the other sex when there are such vast differences between you? How can a man know what pleases a woman sexually or vice- versa?
18. Shouldn’t you ask your far- out straight cohorts, like skinheads and born- agains, to keep quiet? Wouldn’t that improve your image?
19. Why are heterosexuals so promiscuous?
20. Why do you attribute heterosexuality to so many famous lesbian and gay people? Is it to justify your own heterosexuality?
21. How can you hope to actualize your God- given homosexual potential if you limit yourself to exclusive, compulsive heterosexuality?
22. There seem to be very few happy heterosexuals. Techniques have been developed that might enable you to change if you really want to. After all, you never deliberately chose to be a heterosexual, did you? Have you considered aversion therapy or Heterosexuals Anonymous?

The following article is about an evil common among Christians. It is not an indictment of Christianity in general, nor is it meant to describe all Christians. It merely decries the fact that the Christianity professed by many people often leads people into bigotry. There are many Christians who are not bigots. For them, this article is but a warning. For others, it is a cry against the bigotry they practice toward non- Christians. The purpose of this article is to make people more aware of the bigotry within Christianity, not to advocate bigotry toward Christians.

Christian Bigotry

Although Christianity does have its good points, the exclusive nature of many Christian sects opens the door to Christian bigotry. Christian bigotry is a disgusting and insidious evil. To Christian bigots themselves, their bigotry is usually invisible. It disguises itself as piety and righteousness. But to non- Christians at the receiving end, it is often plain old unadulterated bigotry.
Christian bigotry manifests itself as a holier- than- thou attitude towards non- Christians. The Christian bigot has in her head the idea, “I must be right and you must be wrong, because I’m a Christian and you’re not. After all, only Christians can know God.” The doctrine common among many Christians that you can know God only through the mediation of Christ leads many Christians to think that they have a special connection to God that non- Christians lack, leading them to think that they have God’s special favor and non- Christians don’t. This fuels an elitist attitude that can lead directly to bigotry.
What is bigotry in general, and how is Christian bigotry bigotry? A bigot is someone who derives a sense of superiority from believing that he is a member of some elite group that is superior to other groups. Bigotry is the all- encompassing term for such things as racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. White supremacists, for example, believe that white people are superior to blacks, native Americans, Indians, etc. Some even believe that other races are minions of the devil. Male chauvinists often believe that women can’t think straight or are less intelligent or are more prone to hysteria or whatever. Homophobes think that homosexuals are immoral deviants.
It is worth mentioning that other forms of bigotry often appeal to religion to justify themselves. Antisemitism is fueled by the belief that Jews killed Jesus. Men may claim superiority over women, because it was Eve who seduced Adam into disobeying God. Homophobes may justify their hatred of homosexuals by finding condemnations of homosexuality in the Bible. So bigotry and religious justification for bigotry often go hand in hand. It should be no surprise then to find the many religious bigots in the world. Among Christians, Christian bigotry is bound to be the most common variety of bigotry. It has a stronger foothold in Christianity than any other kind of bigotry does. In the pulpit, Christians preachers will be more likely to condemn all other kinds of bigotry. There is biblical support for the claim that Jews and Gentiles, blacks and whites, and men and women are all equal in God’s eyes. But preachers are unlikely to tell their congregations that non- Christians can be just as good as Christians, that non- Christians and Christians are equal in God’s eyes. Such “heresy” would probably get a minister booted out of his church.
So it’s common among Christians to believe that Christians are better than other people. This belief can easily lead to bigotry and to prejudicial behavior toward non- Christians. What are the ways that Christian bigotry manifests itself? There is the holier- than- thou attitude that I mentioned previously. There is also a misplaced sense of Christian charity that leads Christians to believe it’s their duty to convince others to become Christians. There is the refusal to recognize the worth of other people’s religious beliefs. There is the belief, manifested in the Crusades, in the Roman conquest of Europe, in the European conquest of America, etc., that it is our mandate from God to Christianize the heathens, even if it means slaughtering them. There is the sentiment among the Christian Right in the U. S. A. that it is our mandate from God to make this a Christian nation. It is all bigotry, and it is all evil.
Of course, there is also Muslim bigotry and other forms of religious bigotry. I focus on Christian bigotry, because it is the most rampant form of religious bigotry in the United States. That makes it the most dangerous. I have faced Muslim bigotry as well, and I deplore it just as much as Christian bigotry. But it is Christian bigotry that people in America need to become most aware of. Christians have much more power in this country than Muslims have.
It is largely because of Christian bigotry that the mission of Freethought Crossroads is so important. If Christians were as tolerant of other religions as the Hindus are, I wouldn’t feel the impetus to explain why Christianity is wrong. I don’t care where people go to church, what Gods they pray to, or what scriptures they draw inspiration from. But I do care when people use their religious beliefs to demonize and scapegoat people who don’t share their beliefs or belong to their group. As long as Christians do this, it will be important to expose their religious beliefs as false.
In closing, I want to say that non- Christians should not practice any bigotry toward Christians. There are many fine Christians who are not religious bigots, and it is important to remember that we can be just as fallible as Christians. Many Christians are good people, and no one is a bad person just for being a Christian. Being a Unitarian Universalist, or a member of any other religion, doesn’t automatically make you morally superior to anyone else. Some Christians are better than some UU’s, and some UU’s are better than some Christians.”

Hi C____,

This is surely an unconstitutional as well as an unbiblical assignment this professor has given you. It is illegal to require a person to repudiate his or her own religion in order to get a passing grade. Unfortunately, this is all too common in the academia of this country. You and I both know that you cannot write a paper explaining what is wrong with being heterosexual. This professor also knows that if there were no heterosexuals first, then there would be no homosexuals to complain about discrimination. The opposite certainly is not true.
Is this an assignment for this whole class, or is this professor simply harassing you? This letter and this assignment are nothing less than blatant bigotry against heterosexuals and would never stand up in a court of law even in today’s perverted society.
If this professor is bent on flunking you then, you certainly have a right to go to the University Administrators and reference the law against the very bigotry this professor is displaying even as he is decrying “Christian bigotry”. Even Paul pointed out “You judge me according to the law, and command me to be smitten contrary to the law.”

Act 23:3  Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?

It is against the laws of our land to expect either a homosexual or a heterosexual to condemn and deny their own sincerely held religious views as this professor is demanding of you in this essay.
But as hard as it is to say this, I cannot advise you to go to law about this. We have Christ’s example when we are faced with illegal actions against us. He is our example, not the apostles who, like Peter separated himself from the Gentiles, “because of the Jews” who had come down to Antioch from Jerusalem, or like Paul who condemned Peter for doing that and then went out and circumcised Timothy “because of the Jews in that area”.
Here is what Christ tells us to do when we are being wronged:

Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have [ thy] cloke also.
Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

This is not a contradiction of the command to “resist the devil.”

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

What we are to resist is inward sin, within the heart and within the body of Christ. What we are not to resist is those who would sin against us from outside of the body of Christ. So James continues:

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Stand up to this professor and let him know that you will not deny Christ. It was Christ who said “Man must live by every word of God”, and it was God who said that homosexuality is an abomination to Him.

Lev 20:13  If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [ shall be] upon them.

It is true that Christ has taken the punishment for this sin out of the hands of His followers.

Rom 12:19  Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

He still tells us homosexuality is a sin, just like adultery.

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Rom 1:26  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
Rom 1:27  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Rom 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in [ their] knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

“The creature” is the self. It is self gratification that drives both the adulterer and the homosexual, and God will not be second to self. So Christ, who said that He did not condemn the adulterous woman, did not say that He did not condemn her adulterous ways, but rather reproved her.

Joh 8:10  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
Joh 8:11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Does the fact that Christ told this woman that He did not condemn her, mean that He condoned her adultery? What an absurd thought! Does the fact that He admonished her to “sin no more” mean that Christ was a ‘heterophobe’? What an equally ridiculous thought! Christ simply calls a spade a spade, and He calls sin a sin, and that is something that both adulterers and homosexuals do not like to hear.
I hope this serves to give you some direction. “Resist not evil” is a big piece of meat, which I will be praying God will help you to assimilate.
This makes my own natural man want to resist, so you are in my prayers at this time of your trial.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike