As I figured I would be, I’ve been called out on this post.  A blogger named Jessica Sideways insists that I really do hate gay people and seek to deny them rights.

The whole post in which she does this is, frankly, a waste of the bits and bytes used to store it on her server.  Those could have been used for something far more worthwhile, like a nice virus or maybe another iteration of a Socially Awkward Penguin meme.

Before I respond, an open note to Jessica:  I have a feeling I know how this back-and-forth is going to go.  Therefore, this post only will be in a Minimal Sarcasm Zone.  Only truly inane points you make will be subject to scathing, ironic humor.  If you choose to respond and show the same remedial grasp of philosophical issues I’ve already seen, you will be subject to sarcasm that will make you think of J.P. Holding as a nice guy.

You’ve been warned, now class is in session.

First up, the introduction:

Whenever I bring up something that Christianity has done wrong or that Christians have done in the name of Christianity, I am told that these particular Christians are not representative of the whole Christian movement. I am further admonished that I cannot judge all Christians for the actions of a few.

Frankly, there is no other word to explain this argument than bullshit.

One problem with this line of thought.  It means that no organization can ever be exempt from responsibility for the acts of its individual members, even if said members violate the organization’s bylaws.

Jessica is a Thelemite, meaning that she subscribes to the philosophies of Aleister Crowley.  In Wikipedia, I find this item of note:

Biographer Lawrence Sutin stated that Crowley “largely accepted the notion, implicitly embodied in Victorian sexology, of women as secondary social beings in terms of intellect and sensibility”. (source)

Now, if I (as a Christian) am unable to disavow the Crusades and the Inquisition — even the Holocaust!! — then Jessica, as a Thelemite, cannot disavow misogyny.  She must believe all women are secondary social beings in terms of intellect and sensibility.  Best of all, I can hold her responsible for acts of misogyny committed by any Thelemite!

Right?

Of course not.  It isn’t fair to judge an entire organization by the actions of a few of its members.  So too with Christianity.  The actions of the Crusades and the Inquisition are not sanctioned by the Christian religion.  Ours is not a religion that is to be forced on the populous.

Jessica compares my stance on gay marriage with constructive eviction.  That’s seriously flawed, starting with her definition of “constructive eviction:”

Constructive eviction is when the landlord does something to make it impossible or difficult for a tenant to continue to live in the property or failing to perform a legal duty that he has to the tenant. This is generally seen as cutting off utilities to make the apartment uninhabitable and is seen as equivalent to the landlord essentially telling the tenant to leave.

The landlord owns the property, and in a month-to-month lease situation does have the right to terminate the lease for any reason that isn’t discriminatory.  Meaning that the landlord can simply tell the tenant to leave.  So long as the reason has nothing to do with protected class (age, race, color, gender, religion, national origin, disability status, familial status, veteran status, and now genetic information), a landlord is free to kick the month-to-month tenant out with proper notification.

Even in states that have laws in place forbidding “no reason” evictions, simple reasons like “I want to sell this property without you on it” are probably sufficient to avoid a constructive eviction suit in the event the landlord just tells the tenant to leave.

That leaves only the idea of failing to perform a duty that he is legally obligated to perform.  Where is my legal duty to encourage homosexuality?

It would be like saying I have a legal duty to encourage a serial killer to continue killing because that’s how he feels fulfilled.  He feels his life’s mission is to kill people in strange, torturous ways.  And I would be uncharitable to his needs if I were to call him out and tell him that was sinful!

Tell me where I have a legal duty to support same-sex marriage that is on par with a landlord providing a liveable space for his tenant.  This is an unproven assumption until I hear something with some depth.

Continuing in the category of unproved assumptions, I would love for Jessica to back up the following assertions, all made as if self-evident:

• Hitler’s Nazism is fundamentally Christian
• Christians are doing the majority of fundraising for initiatives that would restrict a gay person’s right to enter into civil marriage
• Christians are financing misinformation in order to make sure that everyone is subject to their religious doctrine

Finally, I find it positively laughable that Jessica uses deontology in her counterargument.  She’s a libertine, and doesn’t believe morality exists — not even a subjective one!  She agrees with personages as diverse as Aleister Crowley and the Marquis de Sade that morality only constrains man’s true beauty and divinity.  Morality is only an obstacle that we have to overcome.  Therefore, I have no moral duties whatsoever.  Unless it’s backing up what another person wants to do with his or her life, even if I personally disagree with it.  Then I have to do it because it’s my moral duty (that doesn’t exist).

That’s a consistent philosophy.