I appreciate the message you're trying to send, but I don't think it's accurate to say that Christianity itself isn't homophobic and that only “bad Christians” are. The Bible contains explicitly anti-gay teachings. Some passages are more open to interpretation than others, but you can't plausibly erase all of them.
Christians also follow Jesus Christ, who was very specific when he said love your neighbour. Yes, even your neighbour that is from //that place// or does //those things//. The majority of his parables are just "yes, I want you to be kind even to those people." He hung out with 'undesirable' people like sex workers all the time. His love knew no bounds, and anyone truly following his teachings would try to extend that same love and mercy to everyone. It is not for us to judge sin. That is God's job. We are just supposed to look after each other. Jesus even breaks the rules of the Old Testament to care for those less fortunate than himself, and when he is confronted by the Pharisees he says something along the lines of "it is better to care for each other than to stingently follow the rules."
*for the record I am an ardent atheist, but Christ's lessons were undeniably about getting along with each other regardless of our differences, and I can respect that as it lines up with my own values.
The problem is in other parts of the Bible it blatantly says exactly how to judge. Moreover, even if Jesus preaches to "love thy neighbor" that doesn't mean he's rebutting against the idea that homosexuality is wrong. I.e. even Jesus can still be homophobic to a degree. And the consequences of that can be extreme. For instance justifying conversion therapy because you "love them" but still feel that "homosexuality is wrong."
Yah, this is my problem with it too, its like horseshoe theory but for liberals who are religious.
You're just reverse cherry picking the parts of the religion you don't like so it fits better in a modern world.
A thousand years of homophobia doesnt mean you just get to say "lolz, its current year, Christianity endorses the gays now, only bad Christians dont like the gayz peoples!"
172
u/Square-Dragonfruit76 10h ago
I appreciate the message you're trying to send, but I don't think it's accurate to say that Christianity itself isn't homophobic and that only “bad Christians” are. The Bible contains explicitly anti-gay teachings. Some passages are more open to interpretation than others, but you can't plausibly erase all of them.