Religion. What is it Good for? Part 2.

Yesterday I shared about some friends of mine doing some amazing things that were inspired by their faith.  Let it be known though, that I believe without a doubt they'd do it whether God was real or not.

On the flip side there are these ways religion can be incredibly hurtful.  I was involved in two conversations this week that stemmed from having a belief in a certain value.  I will not go into great detail on what started these conversations, but you'll get the idea.  And I also want to say that by no means am I claiming absolute truth here.  The is where I've landed at the current moment.

A friend of mine was taken to conversion therapy as a minor.  His parents wanted him to get some of the homosexual tendencies and same sex attraction cleaned up. By cleaned up, I mean reversed.  Yeah, there are places that do that.  Though he was forced, he was open to it. Simply because why not trust your parents?  Long story short, the therapy didn't work.  In fact, it was highly traumatic.  It may have made a manageable situation even worse. These types of therapy "treatments" don't work so much that after 37 years even Exodus International (a prominent conversion therapy organization) offered an apology to the countless numbers of people that were harmed and viewed negatively by the organization.  They even went as far as urging churches to create an open and welcoming environment to this demographic.


This conversation started when talking about how Mike Pence wanted federal funding to go to centers that supported conversion therapy.  As far as we know, he hasn't changed from that stance.  So Mike Pence wants federal funds to go to something that is already banned in 5 states and is proven to have potential long term psychological harm.  Got it.

But on the other hand, Mike Pence wants to defund Planned Parenthood.  He states that conservatism starts with the commitment to the unalienable right to life.  So long as you are straight I guess.  Perhaps I'll dive into what a hyporcritcal stance this is in another blog.  Not today.

But this got me thinking.  Why is homosexuality viewed as wrong?  Everything I read comes down to what is said in the bible.  Religion.  What fuels this intense push to have this "pro-life" all babies be born come from?  Religion.  It seems as though most of this pro-life attitude stops once the child exits the womb.  Life consists of more than just birth.  W

I've come to learn things aren't so black and white on this stuff.  And so many other people that once thought the way I did are doing the same.  I used to be the guy that condemned gays to hell and thought all abortion was murder.  I've since met a few people outside my bubble that shared their stories.  I've stepped away from confirmation bias.  My minds been opened.  I'm glad for that.  But when I see examples of who I used to be, it hurts.  My religious viewpoint, hurt people.  In fact, I would venture to say that my religious viewpoint, hurt many more people than it helped.