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April 30th, 2012
12:24 PM ET
Columnist Dan Savage stands by comments on 'bulls**t in the Bible'By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor (CNN) - Columnist and gay-rights advocate Dan Savage is standing by his comment that “we can learn to ignore the bulls**t in the Bible about gay people” at a recent conference for high school students, a line that prompted some to walk out and spurred intense online debate. In a blog post on Sunday, Savage wrote that his remark at a conference for the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association was "being spun as an attack on Christianity. Which is bullshhh… which is untrue.” “I was not attacking the faith in which I was raised," Savage wrote. "I was attacking the argument that gay people must be discriminated against — and anti-bullying programs that address anti-gay bullying should be blocked (or exceptions should be made for bullying 'motivated by faith') — because it says right there in the Bible that being gay is wrong.” Some Christian students walked out of the Seattle speech, prompting another controversial line from Savage: “It’s funny to someone who is on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the Bible how pansya**ed people react when you push back.” CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Savage apologized for that specific remark in Sunday’s blog post, writing that his word choice “was insulting, it was name-calling, and it was wrong.” One of the teachers attending the speech with his students told CNN’s Carol Costello on Monday that he was taken aback by the speech and that he supported the decision of some of his students to walk out of it. “It took a real dark, hostile turn, certainly, as I saw it,” said Rick Tuttle, a teacher at Sutter Union High School in Southern California. “It became very hostile toward Christianity, to the point that many students did walk out, including some of my students.” Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter “They felt that they were attacked … a very pointed, direct attack on one particular group of students. It’s amazing that we go to an anti-bullying speech and one group of students is picked on in particular, with harsh, profane language.” Watch CNN Newsroom weekdays 9am to 3pm ET and weekends. For the latest from the CNN Newsroom click here. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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What a hypocrite loser. Can't stand these "anti bully" bullies.
Please take a moment and picture an America where the K KK, Na z is, A l Qu aeda, and Southern slaveowners were dominant forces in American society, and all vociferously pushed their beliefs regarding women, ho mose xuals, bla cks, je ws, etc. in the public sphere.
Now imagine that all or some of these groups started screaming and whining that they were unjustifiably under attack and discriminated against every time someone publicly pushed back at their big oted beliefs. Rather than hearing or accepting any form of criticism (regardless of whether they felt the criticism was valid), these groups just stood on the grounds that they are somehow immune from criticism, with the strong implication that their immunity stems from their worldviews being a. morally superior, and/or b. mandated from G od. Coupled with the "fact" that they are self-proclaimed "good people" who are supporting "family values" and "not trying to hurt anybody."
Knowing what you know now, would any person here HONESTLY advocate for these groups, or criticize the critics of these groups for being "too harsh," "bullying," or "disc riminatory?" Most people, obviously, would not, but would join in the criticism until the darkness inherent in these groups was eradicated or contained. If you would, however, criticize the critics, in my opinion you are a frightening person, but at least you would not lack the courage of your convictions. I would beg you, however, to reconsider your own moral worldview.
In my opinion, this is precisely what the Fundam entalist/Evang elical "Ch ristians" are doing today. Just because someone SAYS that they follow a religion of peace, or that they strive to be good, nice, moral people, or that the founder of their religion taught love and in fact loves the entire world, AND backs it up by citing examples of when they or their religion donated to charities, gave to the poor, etc, DOES NOT MEAN that a. they are "good" people, b. their religion is "good" and founded on "truth" and "love," c. that any of what they say is true or meritorious, and/or d. that they are in any way immune from honest criticism and stark confrontation in the public sphere which they have so readily thrust themselves into.
Fire away, oh you people who love decency, who love virtue, who admire honesty and courage, and who LOVE your fellow man. And don't stop fighting until the world rises up to join you against this darkness. In my opinion, it's better to stand and fight for what these people consider a "he llish" and "de monic" cause than to adopt their hypocritical forms of "goodness" and "love."
And if you don't believe me, fine. Tell it to Joseph K ony.
Great post. Couldn't agree with you more.
hate to admit it, but what you say is true. i disagree with your negative portrayal of Christians and Christianity though, but certainly would acknowledge that the Bible has a lot of dark, violent, and very old things in it that most Christians today don't like to/know how to face and incorporate it into their faith.
I appreciate your message, however. Cheers!
Wow! You are really intelligent! What do you eat to get that way?
If this weirdo believes "It Gets Better" then why is Anderson Cooper still hiding in the closet?
Because even though the general idea is that it gets better after the childishness of high school, there are still religions in the world – thus, even though it gets better beyond high school, there are still people who would discriminate against gay people based on nothing more than irrelevant religious beliefs.
"Better" is a relative term. Compared to what gay teens have to go thru (in addition to the normal angst of just BEING a teen), job discrimination and 2nd-class legal status actually represent an improvement.
Please take a moment and picture an America where the K KK, Na z is, A l Qu aeda, and Southern slaveowners were dominant forces in American society, and all vociferously pushed their beliefs regarding women, ho mose xuals, bla cks, je ws, etc. in the public sphere.
Now imagine that all or some of these groups started screaming and whining that they were unjustifiably under attack and discriminated against every time someone publicly pushed back at their bigoted beliefs. Rather than hearing or accepting any form of criticism (regardless of whether they felt the criticism was valid), these groups just stood on the grounds that they are somehow immune from criticism, with the strong implication that their immunity stems from their worldviews being a. morally superior, and/or b. mandated from G od. Coupled with the "fact" that they are self-proclaimed "good people" who are supporting "family values" and "not trying to hurt anybody."
Knowing what you know now, would any person here HONESTLY advocate for these groups, or criticize the critics of these groups for being "too harsh," "bullying," or "disc riminatory?" Most people, obviously, would not, but would join in the criticism until the darkness inherent in these groups was eradicated or contained. If you would, however, criticize the critics, in my opinion you are a frightening person, but at least you would not lack the courage of your convictions. I would beg you, however, to reconsider your own moral worldview.
In my opinion, this is precisely what the Fundam entalist/Evang elical "Ch ristians" are doing today. Just because someone SAYS that they follow a religion of peace, or that they strive to be good, nice, moral people, or that the founder of their religion taught love and in fact loves the entire world, AND backs it up by citing examples of when they or their religion donated to charities, gave to the poor, etc, DOES NOT MEAN that a. they are "good" people, b. their religion is "good" and founded on "truth" and "love," c. that any of what they say is true or meritorious, and/or d. that they are in any way immune from honest criticism and stark confrontation in the public sphere which they have so readily thrust themselves into.
Fire away, oh you people who love decency, who love virtue, who admire honesty and courage, and who LOVE your fellow man. And don't stop fighting until the world rises up to join you against this darkness. In my opinion, it's better to stand and fight for what these people consider a "he llish" and "de monic" cause than to adopt their hypocritical forms of "goodness" and "love."
And if you don't believe me, fine. Tell it to Joseph K ony.
Freedom of Religion is the law in America if you don't like it get out
@mike,
Actually, it would be "...if you don't like it, try to get it changed... it only takes 2/3 of the states to ratify an amendment."
Hey if it were Islam he insulted, all the left-wing moonbats on here would be demanding his head. Hypocrites.
That is certainly not true, but what is true is that the Christians would be jumping on the bandwagon.
Can't decide what is worse: being able to dish it out for years, but can't take it for moment; or took it for years, only to dish it out the first moment possible.
Prayer changes things .
Yeah because praying for God to heal their pneumonia works SOOOO much better than going to a Doctor. FAIL. Someone should take your kids from you before you try to "pray them all better" and they die.
Show me proof positive that praying does any good. Scientific proof.
Yes... for the worse.
I was raised Catholic. As I got older, I began to think really critically about religion and history and am now Atheist. For me this was the only logical conclusion, and "blind faith" in anything is not acceptable.
No other living things besides humans pray.....and no other living things possess the ability to be so deluded as to think there is a god.
@H in Texas,
You must have Superman vision.....where did you read that the poster does not believe in taking his child to a doctor? Where did he say that he doesn't believe in science or medicine? He said that prayer changes things – not instead of things.
Having said that......hey atheism......I agree with you, but this post is getting really old. Just. Please. Stop.
Hey HB, why don't you try praying my "Superman Vision" away.
Oh Dan....wow...where to start...You are lost my friend. You need a hug!
Heaven forbid these young minds hear that the Bible could be wrong. 17 years of brainwashing down the drain.
Never heard of this guy.... Considering the excrement that comes out of his mouth it's no wonder....
Same could be said about theJackel.
And the Bible tbh.
All I know is athiest destroy ather peoples Nativity seens every Christmas in California and think they are cool.
Please post a link to an actual news story docµmenting this amazing claim.
I'd like to see some evidence that this is true. Most of the time the vandals aren't even caught, and when they are it's with the items they stole for their own homes. Fishy.
All I know is, that any comment that begins with, "All I know is..." has already revealed that they've stopped thinking.
Muslims routinely jail and execute gay people. Is this guy going to stand up and call the Koran Ballshed? – In Detroit?
If you're so desperate for attention and publicity, bub, that might work.
All these liberal punks on this blog don't have the gonads to trash the Prophet Mohamed and Islam.
Mohamed doesn't influence this country's government.
The hell I don't. Muslims believe in the same anti-gay anti-women bull that Christians do. So yes I believe the prophet Mohammed was a pig-man, which is why he told people not to eat pork. That being said, I've met many decent Muslims, Christians, atheists, and Satanists. Organized religion is a social cancer, but the teachings of religion, if used properly and in moderation, can promote good.
That's because American gays aren't being repeatedly bashed and condemned to hell by Muslims and Jews. In case you haven't noticed, we are surrounded by Christians so it's perfectly reasonable for most of the push back to be directed at them.
Because Christians by and large turn the other cheek. We know we are to be persecuted, and mocked. There will always be those who put themselves before God. Who think that God will conform to them rather then they conform to Gods commandments
Ting, you want to bet
c
I know what you're saying, but not on this issue.
People have generally never been shy about ignoring inconvenient parts of the Bible.
I mean, who actually abides by all the "resist not evil / turn the other cheek / don't ask people to repay loans" stuff?
Basically just the Amish.
They're possibly the only real Christians in America.
...Well, except of course insofar as their isolation from the world arguably violates the Great Commission.
Yeah, and you didn't even get into all the animal sacrifice that Christian god demands, plus all his instructions to abuse and murder people. There's some pretty horrendous stuff in there, and Christians would be busy all day getting their hands bloody if they kept up with all the violence that their god demands.
Note that the bible is also very clear that you should sacrifice and burn an animal today because the smell makes your sicko Christian sky fairy happy. No, you don't get to use the parts for food. You burn them, a complete waste of the poor animal.
Yes, the bible really says that, everyone. Yes, it's in Leviticus, look it up. Yes, Jesus purportedly said that the OT commands still apply. No exceptions. But even if you think the OT was god's mistaken first go around, you have to ask why a perfect, loving enti-ty would ever put such horrid instructions in there. If you think rationally at all, that is.
And then, if you disagree with my interpretation, ask yourself how it is that your "god" couldn't come up with a better way to communicate than a book that is so readily subject to so many interpretations, and has so many mistakes in it. Pretty pathetic god that you've made for yourself.
So get out your sacrificial knife or your nasty sky creature will torture you eternally. Or just take a closer look at your foolish supersti-tions, understand that they are just silly, and toss them into the dustbin with all the rest of the gods that man has created.
Ask the questions. Break the chains. Join the movement. Be free of Christianity and other superstitions.
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/
So how about all the sweeping generalizations we make against Christians? Is that not a way to marginalize a group of people. I'm a Christian and I don't believe in bullying anyone but why is it ok to bully me?
If you're asserting the right to mistreat others on the basis of arbitrary or unchangeable personal characteristics that, for good measure, aren't even hurting anyone, you deserve to be criticized for that.
Call it bullying if you want; fair is fair.
Do you favor marriage for gay couples, or do you prefer voting on other peoples' rights?
passive bullying is to not do anything when you see someone getting bullied.. Do you support equal marriage rights for gay couples? Do you support evolution be excluded from science? if not, you are a passive bully.
Why do you feel YOU are being bullied because somebody points out that the Bible justifies mistreatment of your fellow human beings? How does this affect you in any way?
All you gays would have exacuted by everyone all over the world if it wasen't for American Christians.
i suppose you never read the bible and the part about sodom and gomorrah.
Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, and Sweden all allow for gay marriage, throughout their entire countries.
history speaks otherwise, man.. try looking through it once in a while.. greek and roman customs were FULL of gays.. it was only after christians started their suppression agenda that gays started getting persecuted..
you would think people who experienced such wrongful persecution would be more understanding and not do the same to others.. but sadly, hypocrisy reigns supreme and is extolled as virtue in your cult.. sad!
Lol, I wonder what hack history books have you been reading?
Prayer changes things .
Your fear defines you.
This moron has only 3 words in its entire vocabulary, and these are they. It has repeatedly ignored the challenge "Name ONE". It is an ignorant, anti-intellectual drone.
Moe; You breathing? you waking up every morning? after being unconscious for 5-8hrs,? You walking? The sun rising everyday? the earth suspended in space?
how silly, how can that be?
I think the kids that walked out were being bullies in their own way – by walking out during the point in the speech that shines light on the blame that religion shares in much of the anti-gay bullying that occurs, they are signaling that they condone said bullying through religious beliefs and simply didn't care to be told they are wrong for believing so.