"Hate is Not a Family Value"...Neither is Murder

At various pride festivals and parades, I often see the bumper-sticker, "Hate is Not a Family Value."

And murder is not a Christian virtuous practice, according to the Gospels. And according to the Decalogue (a.k.a., the 10 Commandments), it is not a Jewish practice. Nor is it a Muslim practice. In point of fact, I cannot think of any world religion in which out-right murder is a virtue. Can you?

On towleroad.com and South Florida Sun-Sentinel, there is a report of a killing of a 17 year-old teenager who is gay, dressed up like a woman in Ft. Lauderdale(click here). The investigation is ongoing as they seek to find out if this is a hate crime, e.g., was the young man Simmie Williams killed because he is gay.

This murder is on the heels of the young teenager, Lawrence King, who was killed in Oxnard, CA because he is gay. This was labeled a "hate crime." Click here for more.

There are the countless deaths--whether murder or suicide--of young people because they are part of families, youth groups in churches, synagogues, and mosques, going to a middle school or high school, or all alone and dealing with depression, or living a homeless life on the street, because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or questioning youth. For some, dying and death is slow. Staying in the closet, is a form of death. For some, it is a death that is preceded by depression, which may lead to substance abuse or abuse of one's very being by denying one's sexual orientation and expression, slowly eats away at the very core of a person's being. For others, as in this situation, in which there were other people who, for whatever reason, killed these young men, death was quick. Nevertheless, when it is related to one's grappling with one's very being in a world in which many of us are not accepted simply because of who we are, it is past time to change the world in which we live.

New bumper-sticker: "Murder is not a Christian virtue."

Peace,

Brett