Several events last year, like Sarah Palin's nomination and Ted Stevens's prosecution, gave America a crash-course in Alaskan politics. It turns out it's not just another state up there - it's another planet.
Well, Don Sherfick sent me this link to the Frontiersman, the local paper in Sarah Palin's hometown, in which they decided to print an op-ed discussing whether or not the antichrist is gay.
The idea isn't particularly new; branches of Christianity that care more about end-times conjecturing than discussing the life of Jesus have been making this argument for a while. John Hagee, who helped the John McCain campaign, famously said that the antichrist would be gay and "partially Jewish."
The gay argument comes from a passage in the book of Daniel that mainline Protestant sects don't stress all that much, both when condemning homosexuality and discussing end times:
"He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.
While I suppose one could read "gay" into his having "no regard[...] for the desire of women," it does seem like a bit of a stretch. Aren't these the people who think that homosexuality is something you do, not something you are?
Ron Hamman, who wrote the Wasilla Frontiersman, seems to ignore the context of the passage, which is more about showing that the antichrist will be obsessed with himself than it is concerned with his sexuality.
Moreover, having no desire for women, if that's how we interpret that passage, doesn't mean that the antichrist is gay. He could be asexual. (Not to get on asexual people's backs, because arguing the antichrist's sexuality is already silly enough.)
Hamman also makes the Sodom and Gomorrah were gay argument:
While the Genesis account does not graphically describe their sin, leading some to deny it as being the same as homosexuality, their sin is obviously just that by how it is described: lying with mankind as with womankind. What other conclusion can be reached when they want to "know" the men who were in Lot's house, the same word the Bible uses in Genesis 4 in relation to the conception of Cain? And that Lot himself understood their intentions is clear; not only did he call such behavior wicked, but he also offered his virgin daughters as substitutes, which the men of Sodom refused.
Is he really taking to the local paper to condemn some guys from 5000 years ago for not raping women? Apparently so.
And he has to point out that gays are the violent ones, ignoring centuries of history where the vast proponderance of sexual-orientation-based violence was enacted on gay people:
But consider this: The time is ripe for such a leader. Indeed, it should not be surprising that the one who is against everything Biblical and Christian should be a partaker of so great a sin; there is no greater way to reject the Creator than to reject your gender and his design for it. And at what other time have we seen such perversion come out of the closets onto our streets, threatening violence if we do not accept their ways?
I'd also like to know if there's ever been one of these end times pastors who didn't think that the "time is ripe for such a leader." I guess dissecting eschatology is no fun if it doesn't happen in your lifetime, right?
But this remains my favorite paragraph of the column, where Hamman implies that homosexuality is OK in Christianity, but is too stupid to realize he wrote that:
From a lost perspective, the reason sex sells, pornography is profitable, and prostitution is "the world's oldest profession" is mankind's desire of women. From Christianity's position, it is part of the glue for the bond of marriage and the propagation of a godly heritage. But homosexuality does not regard this -- in their unbridled lusts they burn for their own gender.
If the "glue for the bond of marriage" and "godly heritage" are, for unbelievers, pornography and prostitution, then doesn't the fact that gay porn and gay prostitutes exist show that, for Christian gays, that can also be the "glue for the bond of marriage" and "godly heritage"?
What would I know, though. I practice the only sin God came down to earth to destroy every night.
This is what gets me most about this column: not the fact that Hamman is a bit strange and has devoted himself to developing and promoting counterintuitive interpretations of the Bible, but the fact that a local newspaper decided to print it. I'm sure when they go out of business in a few years they'll wonder what it was about their business practices that caused people to think that they were irrelevant.
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14 Comments
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This isn't new, the fundies have "always" picked and chosen passages from the bible to justify what or who they hate. Similar arguments were used for those in favor of Slavery, and later for those in favor of segregation and white on white marriage.
christophe | May 29, 2009 3:18 PM
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Every now and then, the fundies try to hang the gay label on an antichrist. Check out my November 2008 posting, about "gay fascists,"
in which I discuss their effort to label Hitler and all his cohorts as both antichrist and gay.
http://www.bilerico.com/2008/11/gingrich_vs_gay_fascists_1.php
Patricia Nell Warren | May 29, 2009 3:38 PM
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All of the evil in the world is done by gays and lesbians; you ought to know that Ms Warren!
Hitler was gay, all of the Nazi leaders were really gay, anarchists are gay, socialists are gay, that evil author Pat Warren is gay, pedophile priests are really gay, and sooner or later the 9-11 hijackers will be "discovered" to be gay
Gays cause global warming, higher gasoline prices, hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquates.
A gay man (Barney Frank) even single handedly destroyed the world's economy...
CailleanMcM | May 29, 2009 7:09 PM
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But let's be fair here, athiest lesbians provide all the pickup trucks to help make all that possible.
Don Sherfick | May 29, 2009 7:22 PM
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yes, thats right that right that the gay is antichrist b'coz he is not following the rules that r made by god but ...if u r talking about hitler ..he was not GAY he was a warrior ....he was willing to make his country a big power so that he can rule the world ...& that the reson he was doing all the ...antichrist activities ........
mark redd | June 25, 2009 7:19 PM
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When I first looked at the item on the Wasilla newspaper's blogsite it was accompanied by an ad which had pictures and said: "Meet Chris, Danny, Drew and More Guys in Your City.....the gay friendly place to socialize, network, and make your voice heard." That is down now but has been replace, maybe on a rotating basis, by something pushing lesbian cruises. Oh my.....and I neglected to get the software which would turn my new weather alert radio into a Rapture alarm.
Don Sherfick | May 29, 2009 5:11 PM
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Hmm, maybe it was really a matter of taste; Lot just had such ugly daughters that it turned ordinarily straight males gay?
I mean Iv'e seen some women that would drive me straight soo...?
Going back to Hal Lindsey, who predicted the end times were almost here way back in the 1970's, I have pretty much given up on all the endtimes prophecies business that the fundies keep trotting out every few years. Even when I was still christian I had decided that John,the author of revalations, Had either had the wrong type of shrooms on his pizza, or had been hitting the hash a bit too hard for his on good.
Starting out, the god of the jews,and later the chrisitians, was known as the lord of hosts. The appelation referred to his being in part the god in charge of hospitality and the proper treatment of guests.
It wasn't good manners to want to rape guests or treat them the way the Sodomites were going to treat Lot's guests. Of course someone called the Lord of Hostswould take umbrage, I know I would have.
You know if the fundies put as much effort into fixing the problems of the world that they do in trying to scare us into submission and controlling our lives, this might be a half decent world we lived in.
diddlygrl | May 29, 2009 5:44 PM
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You're dealing with people who believe in invisible, all-powerful beings that telepathically communicate.
It's insanity. You can't reason with insanity.
Anonymous-T-Girl | May 29, 2009 7:08 PM
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"Indeed, it should not be surprising that the one who is against everything Biblical and Christian should be a partaker of so great a sin; there is no greater way to reject the Creator than to reject your gender and his design for it."
The letter-writer confuses sexual orientation with gender identity. And he ought to read the gospels. Particularly Matthew 19:12. And read Acts. And follow the example of the earliest Christians.
Marja Erwin | May 30, 2009 1:55 AM
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Okay, you caught me.
I am the antichrist.
Hey who else has all those qualities, well except I am Lesbian, but then I 'gave up' my male identity, and member, to become what I am.
I also rejected the teachings of Christianity and became a pagan after being a christian for all my life.
Hmm, not sure where the 666 may come in, but if you think about it and twist enough facts and meanings just right I'm sure we can find it. I mean what the hey those fundimentalcases are good at that sort of thing, right?
diddlygrl | May 30, 2009 3:29 AM
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ahh, but you have a desire for women soyou cannot be the anti-Christ.
MauraHennessey | May 30, 2009 12:06 PM
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Being a minister I've run across the slippery slope of those who justify themselves by taking a snippet of the bible literally. The truth of things is that they practice selective literalism. They pick and choose what they take literally and what they don't take literally.
When faced with Pharisees of this sort, ask them on what basis do you select what to take literally and what not to. The usual counter is they take the whole bible literally.
Now you've got them in your lair. Hit them up with some of the obscure parts of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Then go to Acts 4:32-35. It states that they all pooled their assets and each was given according to his/her need. Folks--that's the pure form of communism. Then keep them from straying off this passage and the others in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. YOU'VE GOT THEM. And they will show themselves that they make the literalism choice based on their own form of bigotry.
Rick Elliott | May 30, 2009 3:46 AM
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I lived in Fairbanks for 2 years (1967-69) back when it was truly isolated and strange place. The regular tendencies for political and social oddity were exacerbated by the arrival of huge numbers of southerners coming up to work the North Slope oil field and build the Pipeline. Though Alaska is no longer quite so far away in terms of communication and travel, it seems to be maintaining some of the nut qualities that can be either charming or horrible. So this newspaper bit isn't surprising
Remember, we have a Palin/Prejean ticket shaping up for the 2010 Prez funhouse.
gregorybrown | May 30, 2009 11:52 AM
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It's important to realize that fundamentalists, Dominionists, Dispensationalists, etc., have a persecution complex. They are the only "true" Christians, their pick-and-choose literalist interpretation of the Bible is the only true interpretation, and all the other Christians are only nominally so. They are the persecuted minority and they have to enlist the mainstream denominations in anti-gay attacks in order to draw them into their plan for the salvation of the world.
Gay marriage, adoption, sex education, abortion--these are the lightening rod issues upon which fringe and mainstream Christianity can find some common ground. We are the device by which Christian fundamentalists can start to frame the debate on a whole host of issues that impact daily American life and erode the boundary between church and state.
I have no doubt these people truly believe in the End Times and that queers are responsible for terrorist attacks on America. But I wish that we would be savvier about the ways they use us to extend their influence culturally and politically.
Paige Listerud | May 30, 2009 1:52 PM
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