it’s pride month, so I guess I should’ve expected this complete bullshit going around again: Gay people are too flamboyant! How can they expect society to give them anything when they just won’t shut up about how gay they are?

Go ask the Homophile Societies how well that worked for them, dressed to the nines and walking nicely around with their placards.

And then ask yourself why people need to ask nicely for human dignity, and how it became that they were disenfranchised in the first place (as disenfranchisement and immiseration are not the natural state of the human).

chopperhugs:

fortunateson:

I’m referring, of course, to my theism and ambiguity about whether Unitarian Universalism can be as liberatory a project as I want it to be (or whether it is hopelessly mired in white middle-class sentimentalism).

I just keep reminding myself that doubts like these are opportunities for greater discernment — these doubts clarify my purpose, because dissatisfaction with one element or another gets me closer to figuring out what it is I am meant to do.

I’m slowly coming to the conclusion that liberation theology is more important to my faith than the UU tradition. But while those forms of biblical exegesis feel rightand true to me, and speak to something immensely greater, I don’t have the sametheology. I don’t believe Jesus was divine. I struggle with the notion of an omnipotent god, and with the portions of the Bible that deal with that. 

I’m OK with it, but uncertainty is a constant companion — am I going where I thought I was going? What can I hold on to if I’m going somewhere else - where am I willing to go?

Thoughts/recommendations for reading or action/etc. would be welcome, religious folks.

i don’t really know what to recommend for you to read, not sure what parts of liberation theology you’ve read or what areas would make sense for you. since you’re unitarian universalist i’m assuming you consider theology of religions to be important, so Aloysius Pieris would be a good place to go. his liberation theology is aisan (he’s a sri lankan jesuit priest), and so he not only talks about liberation theology as a matter of poverty but also of culture and religion. an asian theology of liberation, his first book, details a lot of his views on religion and how religions interact with each other. 

i’m honestly in my own transition period with regards to religion. after almost five years of being catholic i have left the catholic church due to my views on sexuality and gender identity. i have, since coming out as first gay and then genderqueer, realized that the principles the church espouses and the principles i believe in and teach as a liberation theologian (if i may be so bold as to claim the title for myself) are incompatible. i no longer believe in church as the cahtolic church does, and do not believe in christ as they teach christ to be. this has been a period of great anxiety and great excitement for me; fear over my future academically and professionally are the sources of my anxiety, and the realization that i can formulate my own ideas independent of the curia and their views on reality are the sources of my excitement.

i think part of going though this sort of transition is focusing on what you have gained in addition to what you have lost. you also need to let yourself believe what you believe, without fear of consequences. so you might not believe in christ’s divinity; while that is essential to my liberation theology, it might not be for you. i’d be interested to see how you formulate the implication of that for God’s plan for the poor and nonperson. the main thing to realize is even if you do not agree with liberation theologians 100%, or anyone else for that matter, it does not negate your inclusion in a community. give yourself the time and space to explore yourself and who you are, as well as what you believe, without worrying about labels and where you fit. you’ll find your way, and you’ll be glad you didn’t push yourself to conform to something too soon.

Thanks for your thoughts, and I’ll check out that book. Some quick thoughts on the divinity of Christ:

While I don’t believe in the divine Christ, I believe the fairly standard Unitarian party line (and I’m referring to old-school Unitarianism/Transylvanian Unitarianism, rather than UUism): Jesus was a prophet much like the Old Testament prophets. He’s given special weight as someone whose life we know more about, versus Jeremiah etc., and as someone who lived his beliefs fully, and whose life was inspired by God. I think that Jesus’s teachings and God’s will still hold the same implications for the poor and the nonperson regardless of whether Jesus died as a sacrifice for humanity or whether Jesus was divine; I can recognize that God chooses the marginalized and the poor, and sends God’s prophets to advocate for and heal the sick and the oppressed.

I haven’t done a lot of thinking on this, to be honest, so I’m interested to see if anything in my studies will contradict this assertion. My heart is still open.

I’m referring, of course, to my theism and ambiguity about whether Unitarian Universalism can be as liberatory a project as I want it to be (or whether it is hopelessly mired in white middle-class sentimentalism).

I just keep reminding myself that doubts like these are opportunities for greater discernment — these doubts clarify my purpose, because dissatisfaction with one element or another gets me closer to figuring out what it is I am meant to do.

I’m slowly coming to the conclusion that liberation theology is more important to my faith than the UU tradition. But while those forms of biblical exegesis feel rightand true to me, and speak to something immensely greater, I don’t have the sametheology. I don’t believe Jesus was divine. I struggle with the notion of an omnipotent god, and with the portions of the Bible that deal with that. 

I’m OK with it, but uncertainty is a constant companion — am I going where I thought I was going? What can I hold on to if I’m going somewhere else - where am I willing to go?

Thoughts/recommendations for reading or action/etc. would be welcome, religious folks.

christinelibbey:

im in love

those religious women, ruining my sexual attraction to them by having their own beliefs. how dare they!

(also: those trans women, potentially ruining my sexual attraction to them by confronting me with my own transphobia. how dare they!)

I hope this lady gives a big middle finger to dudes who feel entitled to her because of her physical attractiveness, and keeps on keepin’ on.

Protip to atheist bros out there: No one cares if you don’t find religious women attractive.

File under: Culture of Resistance.

Str8 women: Don’t have bachelorette parties in gay bars at all, please. But know that it’s especially gross when you do it in states that don’t allow same-sex marriage.

This comes down to treating gay people like human beings, instead of like sexy wallpaper.

not that we could afford one anyway. But he really wanted to take it for walks, and play with it, and watch it jump high. He has since been scheming to figure out ways to a) pay for a savannah cat and b) not be fined for having one in the city.

M: “Oh, boyfriend, we could get it a dog suit!”

…no.

I like to imagine that this essay was sent back in a time machine and prompted (along with the revelation of Soviet atrocities, and his subsequent split from the European left) Albert Camus to write The Rebel as well as many of his other essays.

Because this is the worst kind of defeatist elitism, in which overeducated writers pat themselves on the back for being able to recognize inevitable dystopia — and subsequently choosing the only reasonable path: escape and seclusion. As Malcolm Harris commented, “praxis is [therefore] unnecessary.”

Or, Camus: “There is always a philosophy for lack of courage.”

selfactivity:

“All will be paid with time check, cashable in the new society”