Thursday, October 25, 2007
PERPETUALLY JUVENILE
Cinnamon Stillwell's column at the San Francisco Chronicle website calls the stunt by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at Most Holy Redeemer "juvenile":
While the urge to mock tradition and make light of the Judeo-Christian foundations of Western civilization is strong among San Francisco's gay activists, little is said about a religion in which homosexuals are not only disapproved of, but actively oppressed. In Islamic societies such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, and, increasingly, the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, where Sharia law rules the day, gays are routinely arrested, tortured, subjected to lashings, stoned to death, hanged or beheaded.
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent visit to Columbia University shed light on this sad state of affairs when he made the rather sinister claim that "In Iran, we don't have homosexuals, like in your country." (The two Iranian gay teenagers who found themselves on the receiving end of a public hanging in 2005 might have begged to differ had they been allowed the freedom of speech accorded their inhumane leader by the denizens of academia). The audience at Columbia responded with laughter and, indeed, Ahmadinejad came off as something of a rube in the process. But there are serious issues involved that needn't be swept aside in order to avoid giving offense.
What's more likely is that fear of incurring violence is at the heart of the matter. Gay activists need not worry that an archbishop or a nun is going to kidnap and behead them, even if they desecrate the Catholic Church. But were such an "infidel" to do the same in a mosque, it's more than likely that his life would be threatened from that point on, as has been the case with various reformers, critics, and simple satirists.
If groups such as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence spent half as much time criticizing Islam for its abuses against gay rights as they do Catholicism, then perhaps their attempts at activism might be seen as truly groundbreaking. As it is, their juvenile behavior is redolent of a son desperately rebelling against his father, a teenage girl telling her mother she hates her because she can't stay out as late as she'd like, and other similarly adolescent expressions of fury.
When we start seeing sex toys with Muhammad's likeness on them being sold at the Folsom Street Fair or sisters infiltrating mosques in burqas, then perhaps we can call these activists and their supporters brave. Until then, perhaps it's time for the sisters to grow up.
Read all of the article...
Thanks to a reader for the link. Stillwell tells it like it is.
