Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A monument to homosexuality

I found this article intriguing and decided to take a plunge into the dicyhttp://monument%20to%20homosexual%20victims%20of%20nazis%20unveiled/. Having counted the cost of making it appear that I am more sympathetic to the policies of Hitler rather than the plight of persecuted homosexuals, I will forge ahead and give you my take on this Berlin monument: I find it to be an example of PC run amok and an insult to the millions of Jews who were exterminated simply on account of their ethnicity.

Let me make it clear, I categorically reject civil policies which involve prosecuting, persecuting or punishing homosexuals merely for their sexual choices. On the other hand, make no mistake about it, I don't condone homosexual behavior, since, I believe it is an obvious and inexcusable violation of the innate laws of human sexuality stamped both on the mind and body of human beings. The anatomical compatibility of men and women alone, speaks so loud that it should shout down any dissonance an individual might feel about their sexual orientation, and renders them morally inexcusable. Homosexuality, is a matter of choice, not genetics, or culture.

That last thought gets us down to the issue presented by this article. To place a monument in memory to persecuted homosexuals, who freely chose a behavior that put them at risk for persecution by Hitler's regime, opposite a monument to the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazi's, who were killed for no other reason than their ethnic identity, is a gross and dangerous confusion of moral categories. Murder is immoral on any account, either by civilians or civil government, and should always be abhorred and punished. However, to place the persecution, and in some cases murder of homosexuals in Nazi Germany, on a continuum with genocide is to minimize the horror of Nazi crimes against humanity. To hate and persecute individuals solely on the basis of ethnicity, something that one has absolutely no control over, ought to be considered a circumstance that severely aggravates the crime of murder. While murdering someone out of hate for their sexual choice is reprehensible, murdering out of racial motives, is an intensification of hate that if unchecked, unleashes a destabilizing and destructive influence upon society which has catastrophic implications.

This point is so obvious, I cannot believe that those who were responsible for the erection of this monument were ignorant of this or even in disagreement with it. That leads me to a final thought on all this, motives. Why would someone attempt to place the persecution of homosexuals and Jews at the hands of Nazi's on a continuum that blurs the significant differences between them? Well, the answer is found in the words of Berlin's homosexual mayor, Klaus Wowereit, who said, "Great efforts will still need to be undertaken before the sight of two men or women kissing here or in Moscow or elsewhere on the planet is accepted by society in general." Apparently they do it because its about two men kissing each other! This monument is a public works stunt designed to legitimize homosexuality. Its not about commemorating the suffering of a past generation, its about advancing a political agenda and using tax payer money to do so. By the way, that is not my reading between the lines, it is, again, the interpretation of Berlin's homosexual mayor who said, "The monument consecrated today is a reminder to us of the horrors of the past and draws our attention to the degree of discrimination that currently exists." See, Wowereit himself says its about drawing attention to the homosexual agenda. Its not about commemoration of unjust suffering, its a monument to homosexuality.

To my mind, this "monument to homosexuals" ought to provoke outrage not only from the Jewish community, but from every ethnic group that has experienced the ruthless persecution of dictators, tyrants, and evil oppressors of any stripe. The equation of the mistreatment of homosexuals, which is a behavior based upon a choice, with the brutal, inhuman treatment and murder of millions of Jews based upon race, is so outrageous words can hardly describe it. Who can miss the not so subtle sub-text of this monument, which is that any intolerane of or lack of acceptance of the homosexual lifestyel is tantamount to the slaughter of millions of Jews in Nazi Germany? All this prompts a question, "When are reasonable people going to stand up and stop the mouths of these obstreperous people who shamelessly exploit the suffering and persecution of others to advance and legitimize their selfish agenda?"

Our generation is so worried about being labelled "insensitive" and "bigoted," we have lost our nerve to take principled stands against almost anything. Such lack of nerve will have serious consequences if it persists. If we cannot distinguish between the consequences due to choices, from the consequences due to genetics and race now, we will have no ability to define and prosecute real injustice in the future. Instead of a monument to homosexuality, we need a combined monument to common sense and courage. We need common sense to define the issues correctly and courage to stand up and speak out against the likes of these tyrannical minority groups who use the cover of political correctness to force the rest of society to accept their perverse lifestyle.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

"My god" is in my head

Recently a letter of Albert Einstein's emerged for auctioning in London, dated from 1954. Included in the body of the letter were a couple of statements that caught my attention: belief in God is a childish superstitition and the Bible is nothing more than a collection of childish primitive tales. I suppose that many people might excuse that coming from Einstein, after all, he was a pioneer in the world of modern physics and lived through the world wars of the 20th century, so, the argument often goes, he was just too sophisticated to believe in a god who could both create a world so intricate and complex as well as full of such random evil.

It is difficult to imagine that someone who had the opportunity to examine the book of nature with such care and precision, and who mareveled at the majesty of its design, could so easily miss (or dismiss, whatever the case may be) the fingerprints of the same majestic power, who created the natural world, so indeliby imprinted upon the pages of scripture. According to the sentiments expressed in this letter it seems fair to say that Einstein found that the Bible lacked credibility, after all, it was a holy book filled with odd stories and improbable miracles. But, I would challenge that. I realize that the the notion of miracle is supposedly very difficult for people to believe in who live in the age of toasters and microwaves, but I don't believe that miracle is that difficult for someone to believe in who has the capacity to marvel at the complex nature of the universe and codify the laws of quantum mechanics. Surely, the intricacy of the phenomenal world should have left room for openness to the concept of divine miracles as they are recorded in scripture, no matter how crude the language used to report them. After all, the improbability of naturalism as an adequate means of accounting for the majestic intricacy of the phenomenal world ought to have left him searching or at least open to considering counter explanations for the origins of the complex natural world.

Some years ago Charles Misner, a scientist specializing in the general theory of relativity suggested that Einstein was not really an atheist, he simply couldn't subscribe to any formal religion he had been exposed because they did not adequately capture the majesty of the God who fashioned the world. I think its just the opposite though. It seems to me that he idolized himself instead and worshiped his own majestic mind. Of course God is hard to see and believe in for the one looks into the mirror of nature and finds the reflection of his own marvelous face staring back at him instead of beholding with awe and wonder Him who designed it all.

http://belief/ in God 'childish,' Jews not chosen people: Einstein letter