This IS satire, and it's poking holes in the fundie-right's methodology of holding a literal interpretation of some scriptures while reasoning modern day meanings to others. It's so very sad to me that Christianity today has shrouded itself in narrow mindedness and judgementalism. To those who don't know, I was reared by the most extreme of all of them - in the Pentecostal church - where literal interpretations were the norm and not the exception. I.E. - Deut. 22:5 spoke about women wearing "that which pertained to a man" and men wearing "women's garments". To the church this meant that women wore dresses (always, as in it is a sin for a woman to put on a pair of pants) and men wore pants (long of course, shorts were immodest - I hid them in my locker at school & changed when I got there and again before I went home). Even the other fundies (Baptists, Charismatics, Etc) were considered "worldly". Jerry Falwell's wife wore pants, cut her hair, wore make-up, ear rings - they allowed televisions in their homes, went to movies, and even may have enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner. They were all doomed to hell too, no matter how hard they thumped their Bibles.
Needless to say, I walked away from these stringencies somewhat mad at the entire institution with no interest in returning. It was at that time that I began to develop my own spirituality, and that spiritual sense is something that today I hold very dear. At risk of really freakin all of you out, I even read the Bible AND I believe it. BUT I've learned to see the big picture, and have seen through it that "the church" in it's current self-righteous form, isn't what the intent was. There is no doubt in my mind that if Jesus was living today rather than then, he would be hanging out with fags & trannies and those perceived by religious society as untouchable - JUST like he did when he was alive. He lived in similar times - when the "fundies" (then called Pharisees) condemned all who broke their religious traditional laws and rules. He broke them. He rescued a prostitute, befriended her, and drove away all who condemned her. The "law" said you couldn't participate in any kind of activity on the Sabbath - he broke that rule too & performed miracles on the Sabbath. He was condemned by the fundies of his time, just like we are today - they crucified him for his "crimes". The hateful rhetoric touted by today's religious right to me is nothing more than misunderstanding of the Bible's true message. It's not a rule book, it's a guide - a roadmap. For example, I've read here that Paul is perceived as anti-woman. If HE was alive today to explain himself I believe that we'd soon discover that this isn't the case at all. He was writing letters to people who were not Jews akin to Jesus' original disciples, but were rather gentiles who had heard the message but were still surrounded by a Greco-Roman culture where women were property. In an attempt to legitimize the experience of early Christians, he advised them not to do things that would result in the culture's perception of them as something negative. We don't live in that culture. Church people today say he taught against and condemned homosexuals - I don't believe this. Keeping in mind that he saw the day to day life of the culture surrounding him where women were chattle, slavery was the norm, and pederasty was the norm, he spoke in Romans 1 (one of the main homo-bashing scriptures referred to) about people who were involved in worship of false gods, who had rejected the Christian message, and were heterosexuals engaging in homosexual (to THEM unnatural, not to contemporary gays & lesbians) acts with prostitutes available for hire to perform sex acts as sacrifice offered to idols. That's just my view, and I of course could be wrong, but I just don't think that the Christian message was given to condemn. It was given to forgive. After all, Jesus came in a time where the perception was that keeping the rules = good standing with God. I'm deemed acceptable to God because we're friends - He loves me, and that's the whole point. Good fathers do not reject their children when they make mistakes - they lend their guidance and give their love unconditionally throughout the child's life and even through adulthood, because they love their children. THAT is what the message really is, and it's a shame that we've strayed so far from it because many perceive God as their enemy because of it. He's just not, I'm sorry, but I can't believe that. Off my soapbox.