TALKING TO A GAY MAN IS LIKE TALKING TO A WOMAN

I came across your site after being disgusted with all the other "God Hates.." sites. Yours is refreshing in a sea of hate for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. I, a heterosexual married woman, go to a gay bar and sing karaoke. I love the atmosphere more than a "straight" bar. People aren't uptight and they have a good time, thus, I have a good time as well!! Talking to a gay man is like talking to a woman to me, but with better
conversation than a woman most times. (LOL)

Now, I have found, that there are also "god hates Goths" and they are portrayed as child molesters, satan worshipers, and violent killers. Aren't Christians taught to be TOLERANT?

All these people that claim to be "righteous" are going to Hell for their hate and they know it, so they have to spread it while they're still here on earth. Being Wiccan, and do not believe in Hell, do not wish to spread hate to them, although i thin they deserve for God to hate THEM! Thank you for your site and carry on!!

Blessed Be,
~Iris

JEFF SWENSON RESPONDS:

This is the first email of 2007 that I'm posting even though I have archiving still to do from 2006 (remember that I organized this site just last year so it would have weekly updates--hard to get to it all with my schedule).

I remember hearing Penn Jillette talk about going to a gay bar and having fun there too. I think it would be cool as long as no one thinks you're on the market (that is if you're a straight man) because a bar is a bar--some good beer and conversation. Unless we're talking about more of a dance club. I don't go to dance clubs in general because for me to dance I need a choreographed routine and even that isn't pretty.

The hating of goths isn't surprising. Goths are really misunderstood. I'm an old school geek but I've been a fan of horror even as a Christian growing up and understood the difference between the pretend world of death and death itself--for the most part, remember I was still a Christian who believed in plenty of myths too.

The pretend world of death is where people test their fears, examine their own psychology, and can have a lot of fun. There is always the risk that the Goth category attracts suicidal girls--truly suicidal girls, not the ones found on suicidegirls.com--but you'll find that with any category. I remember in Bible College hearing of a suicide on campus because a student was rejected by a girl. And that student and that girl were Christians.

The hypocritical thing about Christians who criticize the Goth movement is that they themselves engage in a pretend world of death. I guess this is the atheist perspective since I see no evidence of an afterlife; no God, no angels, no hell or heaven. To me the Christian religion is the equivalent of Dungeons and Dragons. You spend your time learning obscure facts about demons and angels, memorizing scriptures to defend yourself from sin and the devil (spells), cities of supposed evil like Babylon, dead kings and queens, mystic rites and sacrifices, etc, all in an effort to obtain glory either here or the next world. It smacks of complete fantasy which is why I think it attracts a lot of young people who then ditch it later on in their college years. I can honestly say that Christianity had it's good points and it's bad points when I was religious and many of the good points for a geek like me was the curiosity I had for the past and for the fantasy of Revelations and the possible afterlife. Hell was particularly fascinating and you will see an obsession with it amongst many fundamentalists which to me is the equivalent of delving into horror literature and being a fan of the morbid. The ultimate fantasy is how many people can you save from a mythical place called Hell? The more good you do on earth, the better your position in Heaven too.

If it weren't for the fact that too many people believe Christianity to be true, Christianity itself might be kind of fun.