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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. |
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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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It wasn't an "attack on the bible", it was a "description of the bible"
read it...
Why would anyone care what this blight on humanity had to say!
Because he is right.
If you do not like what someone says then vote the other way thats it.
I find it sadly amusing all these comments from those making foul remarks at Christians and the Bible. Shame on all of you! Have your fun now but remember you too will face the Final Judgement. Careful or you'll wake up one day in the fires of hell! After all, Satan is after all the company he can get!
"Have your fun now but remember you too will face the Final Judgement. Careful or you'll wake up one day in the fires of hell!"
Seeing as 70% of the people on the planet (roughly 4 billion) don't believe in your god and will supposedly be burned in hell for not believing in your god – that makes your god an evil monster!
If your god will send me to hell for a lack of belief – #$*% him! At lease I'll be in good company.
The shame rests solely on the religious for perpetuating a system of belief that has caused more harm than good in the world and serves only to divide rather than unite. Shame indeed!
"... Final Judgement."
...doubtful
So refreshing ,you bible literalists, and I give you Wynette credit for... standin' by your hell. These christian moderates with their pansy, "their is NO hell ; that's just in the OLD Testament" crap. Sheesh. Come to think of it... check out your old test and try to find hell. You won't. Because the coercive threat-filled idea of hell doesn't appear in the buy-bull until the NEW testament comes along with meek and mild jesus by it's side.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, more empty threats. Send me a picture postcard from Hell, and maybe I'll take you seriously.
Why can't the buttpluggers stay in the closet where they belong. They are perverts.
Spoken like a good christian!
Well... they let you out, didn't they?
Proud of the kids that packed up and left.
Yes, I can see how someone close-minded would approve of it in others.
Another representative of the Obama Admin who's true colors come out. How many of Obama's flunky's have to do this before america will wake up. His views and the people around them are extreme plain and simple.
Please describe the tie in with the Obama administration. Or is this just air headed slander?
Yes everyone knows to be a Democrat you must hate someone.
....... and of course by "everyone", you mean fundamentalist christian republicans, right?
Thank you Vince. Nice post. I feel sorry for Dan. He obviously has a lot of hurt in his life. Too bad all he sees is the condemnation of sin, not the healing power of Christ. As a chirstian I would love to talk with him and share God's love and hope with him. Never forget fellow believers, that we were once sinners in need of grace as well.
You were ONCE sinners?....Christian or not we are all sinners everyday of our lives.......Passing judgement on others and their beliefs is a sin.....
No offense Rev. But save your breath. In his depraved mind Christ's Love means something totally different.
We dont like when you men smoke poles and women eat beaver or munch carpet
why are these religious idiots dragging a topic about muslim/islam into this story. forget to drink your milk?
Jack, you don't have the balls to slander my religion
I find it interesting that it's okay for christians to push LGBT youth to suicide with their hate speech, but when someone refutes what they preach, it's a big uproar. I don't agree with his methods, but I think it's shocking how up in arms people get. But yet no one says anything about how vicious LGBT bullying can be.
If you don't like what you hear in America you can walk out or turn the channel but everyones Religion is valid.
I disagree. everyone is free to practice their religion. Whether or not their religion is "valid" is a judgment call and a matter of opinion.
funny how the left is so tolerate isn't it.. but again all most people on the left just want thier opinion, not any oppossing ones.. BTW it was a bully forum. This bozo calls them names..but again the left are filled with haters.. if not why do they blast sarah Palin, instead oof hillary Clinton, who happened to give the Brotherhood of Muslims 1.5 billion dollars...yep good old Brotherhood, they kill women and stone them to death.. and yet hillary signed a waiver to give them 1.5 billion dollars.. but she is all for women rights...The funny thing about this guy, he could of continued with his speech, but no he has to call oiut people who simply didn't want to hear him speak..They did nothing but decided to use thier right not to listen to his rights of free speech.. but he bashes every one who decides to follow tier religious beliefs.. and some of the posters in this forum.. spout off nonsense about the bible.. gee how intellegent of you spout off hated filled comments.. I guess your mothers must be proud, but sadly you more than likely call them Breeders...to bad they had you losers.. because our country was founded on free speech, and you know when you truely believe in it when you allow the most hate filled person speak his or her mind freely..but many on the left don't want anybody's right to express them selves.. I hope this guy gets cancer it will serve him right..POS.. BTW I am not religious.. I think it's fiull of feces.. but I do believe in the right of Freedonm.. OF the Press, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Association.. but again these students choosed simply to walk out of a hate filled triade about religion...that's what they did and the speaker a Gay rights activist callls them hated filled names.. Bravo Bravo.. what a way to lead by example..
C'mon, this guy's the s c u m of the earth, the dregs of society, anybody with a shred of common sense knows that.
And the irony and hypocrisy of his bullying teenagers from his bully-pulpit during a "presentation" that was supposed to be against bullying - if the hypocrisy and irony of the situation is lost on you, then you must be a full-fledged liberal ... and as such, psychotic.
they're making a big deal out of this, but the VAST majority of the students were cheering. The fundies were just not open enough to hear out his reasoning for why he made his statements.
Based on your logic, if he was delivering a speech which bullied LBGT and the majority of people were cheering it would be OK, right. If you're going to claim to be an advocate of the Bullied you shouldn't be a bully yourself.
Gay marriage is a joke.
You're a joke.
No it's not. The experts around the world have proven that being gay is not a choice, it's not a mental illness and it can't be voluntarily changed. They deserve to have the same civil rights as everyone else. The have loving relationships with their partners and they have children. The experts have also proven that children raised by them come out totally fine.
It's only prejudice and bigoted people who don't understand the REAL facts about gays think it's a joke.
So is 'conventional' marriage...what's your point?
If one is looking for useful facts and/or enlightenment about life, ignore 'holy' books of all manner.
If you want enlightenment, stay away from Dan and Dave, they are religious bigots armed with hate and ignorance. That's right, Dan teaches and bullies like Hitler, how to emote, but no critical thinking is present.
so christians can tell you if you dont believe in jesus you are a evil person and will spend eternity burning in he11, but call it bull and you are in the wrong? please..... to be honest, he is right, to demean someone for being gay is bullsh1te!
Demeaning anyone is bu11s***
Christians don't say that! The Bible does! God does! Jesus does! Turn or Burn! Simple unless one is a fool!
Christians didnt author the Bible God did. So if gays have a problem with Gods commandments then they need to take it up with God.
"c" is just another bigot hiding behind his holy book.
...ditto for cocoloco.
Ummm c – No holy book came down, all-complete in any form. As the saying goes, god doesn't have a fax machine. But regardless of where you believe it came from...its only interpreters and representatives are people. In the end, you do what other people 'tell you' god told them to put in the bible. God's welcome to show up at any time for a rebuttal.
.....nope...still waiting.
Last I heard Christians don't exacute gays muslims do.
Last I heard, Christians like to believe they are good people because they follow the bible and persecute gay people as they're told to....but don't go so far as to kill us like Muslims – this way they can believe themselves better than Muslims and gay people in one shot!
@Mike-
Many Christians fight to deny "gays" civil rights. Oh, and let's not forget the whole "condemned to an eternity of suffering" bit. Now, Mike, where's your moral high-ground?
QS, most Christians I know are constantly referring to their own sinful nature. That by Grace they are able to go to Heaven. And a lot of Christians will tell you just because you are a good person doesnt get you a ticket in.
Please stop lumping all Christians together. Some of us fight for the rights of gays and all those who are vulnerable in society. Not all Christians behave in the same manner. We are flawed, sinful, and occasionally hypocritical - just like everyone else on the planet. Please stop judging all Christians with the same meter......it's no different than judging atheists, agnostics, wiccans, muslims, or anyone else exactly the same way. It's ridiculous.
@HB –
So you believe ho.mose.xuals should be granted all rights afforded to hete.ro.se.xuals? How about entry into the "kingdom of god"?
HB – Speaking for myself, you are judged on the basis of your beliefs as much as the beliefs themselves. You are judged based on religion, and specifically xtianity's utter lack of corroborative evidence whatsoever.
You may disavow gay bigotry, but as a xtian those tenants come directly from the bible. If you judge that particular belief to be unworthy, then I have two things to say. 1) Good for you. 2) Your morals come from yourself...not the bronze age myths to which you hold. You do the same thing that everyone does. You take your sum total experience, knowledge, and education along with cultural understanding and you make the determination for yourself.
But choosing to ignore the myriad attrocities in the bible (many ordered by, and some perpetrated directly by the main character) are why you feel secular society's eyes upon you.
Really-O,
Yes, I do. Let me double check with my ga.y Bishop or my female Presiding Bishop (think the equivalent of the Pope in the RCC). I'm pretty sure that they feel the same way. I highly doubt that God has an issue with the way that someone was born.
Christianity (yes, I am a devout Christian) could you a little less judging and a lot more loving. Are we all hypocritical? Of course! Is it sinful? Of course! Jesus asks us to sincerely repent of those sins (notice I am not talking about being ga.y now) and strive to let the Holy Spirit into our hearts to turn away from those sins. Will we fail? Sometimes. He asks us to turn to Him again and again and again. Repenting, by the way, is not saying "Sorry about that, God. My bad." It is a deep, soulful look inside and sincere desire and prayer to turn away from our sins and towards God. It doesn't happen overnight and can often take a lifetime to achieve, if ever. Luckily, He is patient and has already paid the price for those sins.
Not all Christians are holier than thou. Many of us know that we are here to serve. We are here to be servants to our fellow man – whether they believe in Him or not. Our love and service should never be predicated on whether or not someone believes in Christ, is a sinner (which we all are), or if they are gay (which is not chosen). We are called to wash our neighbor's feet and serve them. That's just some of what being a Christian means to many of us.
So, yes, I expect to be with many of my g ay brothers and sisters in Christ one day, and I look forward to it.
Too Dark,
No, my morals do not come from myself. I read and study His Word and allow it to enter my heart. There are many things that I wish I could do but I do not as they violate the covenant between God and I. Oh, how easy life would be if I were not a Christian. How easy it would be to only observe society's laws and not God's. No, sometimes I wish my morals were my own when I want to behave in a way that goes against His Word, but I try to live by His. Often, I fail miserably. I do not hear in Jesus' heart that we are to hate our fellow man for any reason. I also believe very much in science and what it teaches us. We understand that by and large ho.mo.se.xu.ality is not chosen. People are born ga.y. God's children are perfect in His eyes even though we can't see that for ourselves. I do not hear in Jesus' teaching that we are to condemn and demean ga.ys. If God has a problem with someone then I leave that to Him. It's simply above my pay grade.
@HB-
While I don't agree with your theistic beliefs, I respect and appreciate your refusal to place dogma before equity and compassion. Religions, and the human community as a whole, would benefit by your example.
HB – then how is it that you decide which tenants to follow and which to ignore or categorize as parable or allegory? God didn't write your bible...humans did. Which of them decided that g@ ys nolonger deserve to be pelted with rocks? More importantly, which deciples alive today deny that particular order was ever recinded? A tidbit which, sadly, about which they would be correct.
?