Proposition 8: The Musical – Lies & Intolerance.. by Who?

The Bible and Proposition 8
Mockery and Bigotry

Below are some excerpts regarding Proposition 8: The Musical, written by “Hairspray” composer Marc Shaiman. Already viewed by over 2 million people online. Many people might think this piece is funny or a great “social issue” piece. But what often gets overlooked is how much these kind of videos distort the truth and are extremely intolerant.

Some will look at it and say “of course I know it’s bias” and just laugh it off, but media has such a powerful effect on the way we think and how we view things that enough exposure to such material can mold our perceptions. You can have parents who urge you to keep yourself pure, but as you watch more and more TV shows where sleeping around seems to exciting, fun and without consequences, when the time comes it is much easier to go with it. The old “everyone else is doing it” played out in real life. When you live in simple suburbia but watch movies of gangsters and mafia characters defend their egos and pride by oppressing others or physically getting in the face of others, what does that do to your perception of what is manly and right when your dignity is on the line.

Proposition 8 was a ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in California. Gay activist were upset. Just like any other group, some took it in stride, but then there are some who resorted to thuggish tactics like vandalizing church properties. Others like Marc Shaiman resorted to creating short films that make a mockery out of the faith community.

The religious character in the story sings lines such as “It’s time to spread some hate… and put it in the constitution”.

I’ll let the article take it from here.

But Shaiman isn’t alone. This week Newsweek magazine has come out of the closet with a one-sided support of gay “marriage.” The article, entitled “Our Mutual Joy,” runs with this teaser, “Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side.”

In it, writer Lisa Miller joins Shaiman’s chorus of mockery, and there’s no shortage of condescension to be found. She begins, “Let’s try for a minute to take the religious conservatives at their word and define marriage as the Bible does. Shall we look to Abraham, the great patriarch, who slept with his servant when he discovered his beloved wife was infertile?”

Miller continues to point to the polygamy of the patriarchs and the singleness of Jesus and Paul in order to wrangle up a so-called biblical defense for gay “marriage.” Try as she may, her arguments, including passages stripped out of context like David’s love for Jonathan or a new look at Paul’s condemnation of men “inflamed with lust for one another,” fall short. Her logic is selective, at times using the Bible as a defense, other times as the brunt of her ridicule.

For the record, nowhere in the Bible is homosexual activity praised or advocated. The only mentions of it condemn the practice, some calling it an abomination. On the other hand, the Bible has plenty to say about the marriage of one man to one woman. Take a look at God’s commands in the garden, or Christ’s words on leaving and cleaving and becoming one flesh, or look at Paul’s instructions specifically for “husbands” and “wives” in Ephesians 5.

Miller admits that the argument for a biblical support of gay “marriage” is usually not made from any particular passage but from, as scholar Walter Brueggemann put it, “the general conviction that the Bible is bent toward inclusiveness.”

Well, Miller is partly right. Christ’s invitation to sinners to come and find salvation truly does include all people. But this invitation is not that we might stay as we are. His love calls us instead to be transformed into His likeness. All of us have the same opportunity to turn from our sins, whether that sin be pride, unbelief, greed, or any number of sexual sins, including the kinds committed by patriarchs, modern homosexuals, and everyday covenant breakers.

No, my friends, God loves us enough that He won’t leave us as He finds us. I’ll take that kind of inclusiveness any day, over the thinly guised bigotry of tolerance.

The intention of this post isn’t to promote proposition 8 or try to convince anyone one way or another. It already passed. What is done is done for now. The point is that media is a powerful medium that effects the way people view things. Many people utilize this medium to throw their opinions to the public. I think that is perfectly fine, except when the content is full of lies and uninformed facts.

If someone is going to talk about some religion or some knowledge that that person is not familiar with or not engulfed in, the person should ask some experts on the topic to gain a better understanding of the topic or the problem. To pick and choose a few passages or bits of information one learned as a kid or you read online blog somewhere and then present it as fact or information, that is where media is abused. Even if it isn’t presented as fact, to knowingly throw out something that mocks a group of people – isn’t that what intolerance is? To attack individuals or groups of people and make fun of them? To attack a way of thinking or a held belief is one thing, but to target a certain segment of society and present them as idiots is uncalled for.

What are your thoughts?
Please be courteous. Personal attacks will not be tolerated here.

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