A Response to Julie Cuniglio
I recently read a letter on the Gold Star Families for Peace site by Ms. Cuniglio titled: Whats Really Happening on the Senate Floor. She starts this letter off with
To all the neo-Christians (who are giving the rest of us a bad name)I stand, transfixed by the idiocy I see taking place on the Senate floor. In a time of war, when so many Americans and innocents are dying daily, at a time of economic struggle, when so many Americans and others are out of work, at a time of tragedy, when so many Katrina victims are struggling to rebuild their lives we’re focusing on sex.
The term “neo-Christians” could be replace with “Christian Fundamentalists”, “Fundies”, “Religious Right”, or any other person who is a Christian that holds a Conservative political view along with a literal view of the Bible. With this line we now know where Ms. Cuniglio is coming from when writing this letter.
In the second paragraph she at least admits that we are in a time of war but goes on to falsely assert that many Americans are out of work and we are focusing our attention on sex. The unemployment rate in America right now is under 5% which is essentially full employment and the issue she goes on to discuss, homosexual marriage and the Marriage Amendment, is not about sex but about maintaining traditional values.
She goes on to assert that the politicians, mainly the Republicans, are using issues like these to get votes. This is partially true because both sides address issues that are on people’s minds in order to get votes but that is not the only reason “neo-Christians” are passionate. They/we truly care about the state of traditional marriage and do not want to redefine it to mean something that is not, and never has been.
She makes the stupid assertion that
Family values are not comprised of one penis, one vagina, and the children they produce. Would you ever suggest that any of the wives of fallen soldiers are not supporting family values? There’s only one parent there -doesn’t fit your mold. How about the families comprised of grandma, mom and the kids? Did Dad’s early death from cancer eliminate the family values in that household? How about the Dad-only households. Should they be stripped of their ‘family’ status because Mom died in a plane crash?
I am not sure where to begin with such a stupid statement. Nobody has ever suggested that single parent families that resulted from death do not support an idea of “traditional family values”. The point made by anyone regarding family values is that a two parent household with a mom and a dad is the best structure in which to raise a family. Will it always work that way, no? Life happens and unfortunate situations arise. Nobody is condemning such situations. What people oppose is promotion of teen sex leading to unwanted pregnancies that result in abortion. Redefining the words family and marriage to mean anything and everything you feel it should. A traditional family is composed of a mom, a dad, and children. That is not the only meaning of family though and nobody is making that claim. Marriage has always been a man and a woman. When we restricted a white man and a black woman, or visa versa, that was wrong since there is no difference other than skin color between a black man and a white man. Interracial marriage still falls within the definition of marriage. There is something radically different between a man and a woman both emotionally and physically. To claim that the argument against homosexual marriage is strictly about sex and forcing your values on society is absurd and completely dishonest.
Ms. Cuniglio says that she is a Christian. She tries to tell us what Jesus would disapprove of.
I think Jesus Christ is, well, the BEST. I don’t pretend to know everything he’d approve of, but let me tell you a few things I am CERTAIN he’d DISAPPROVE of:
-Denying love because we don’t understand it.-Judging others because we don’t understand them.
-Creating laws that fail to protect anyone and will hurt many innocent people, including children.
-Excluding anyone because they’re different. Remember the song? “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight..”
Nobody is denying “love”. Nobody is suggesting making homosexuality illegal. It two people of the same gender want to live together in a committed sexual relationship, they are free to do so. Preventing homosexual marriage will not harm children. The entire issue of homosexual marriage is about social acceptance and recognition as normal, not equal treatment. Nobody is preventing homosexuals from having a private ceremony expressing their love and commitment to each other. We are just against governmental recognition of their relationship as a “marriage”.
She ends with saying:
Get out of other people’s bedrooms. Get back to church. And, try to take some of what you learn there home with you. You’re embarrassing the real Christians, those of us who take ‘Judge not lest ye be judged” seriously.
She sounds pretty judgemental here to me. Telling us that we are not “real Christians” if we oppose homosexual marriage. Ms. Cuniglio, I would love for you to provide a Biblical defense using scripture to back up your support of things like homosexual marriage and abortion, that is if you read and believe the Bible. I have been going to church and reading the Bible for many years and I have yet to find anything that support issues like these.
I wish you would read this Ms. Cuniglio because I would love to hear a response.
Filed Under: Craziness
Comments (4)
Anonymous
August 30th, 2006 at 2:40 am
I have only just read your posting and would be pleased to respond.
I have the deepest respect for the Bible. It is by far the greatest book ever written. That’s why I have the lowest regard for those who use it as a profit-making device, as the current administration has done for the past eight years.
For example, let’s select a commandment at random…how about “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. Note that there is very little room for interpretation there. Not “Thou Shalt Not Kill unless you feel they deserve it” or “Thou shalt not kill unless someone on television falsely links the killee to the tragic death or thousands of Americans” or even “Thou shalt not kill unless there’s oil under their sand”. Just simple, ordinary, “Thou shalt not kill”. The current administration is responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens, including women and children, for oil. Right from the start, that makes you question the sincerity of their Christian ethics.
Now, regarding gay marriage, you make a very common argument. However common, it’s incorrect. You cannot prevent the marriage of two consenting same-sex adults without harming family values. You, like many others, are ignoring the legal protections that come with the word “marriage”. For example, most people feel a two family home, with at least one parent who can stay at home, at least when the children are young, is optimal. However, how is one parent supposed to devote him/herself to the care of the children when they can’t be covered by the working parent’s insurance policy? So, let’s say two women live together for thirty years and one is terminally injured in an accident. Do realize that, in most states, her mate is not allowed in the room to hold her hand and say goodbye? How do you find anything remotely Christian in that scenario?
I could tell you countless parables. However, the point is that the marriage of two committed same-sex partners in no way changes or degrades the value of your heterosexual marriage or family. It simply provides legal protection and acceptance for a segment of our population who is expected to to pay taxes, serve on juries and contribute to our society.
However, that wasn’t the true point of my rant. My rant was an effort to make two statements: If you consider yourself a Christian, grab a WWJD bracelet and spend a little time on the life of Christ. Christ was ALL about compassiona and tolerance. If you remember correctly, he defended and protected the outsiders…including at least one prostitute.
Second, and most relevantly, I was trying to send a message to those who would call themselves Christians: YOU’RE BEING MANIPULATED. The current administration saw a large, generally ignored demographic. They did the numbers and said, “Gee, this is an easy group to work up. They’re judgemental, feel persecuted and ignored and are accustomed to being told how to think.” Then they selected your two hot button topics – abortion and gay marriage – and pretended to care about them. They continue to drag them out and bang them like a drum every time they need for you to show up at the polls. They don’t care about Christian values; they’re breaking a commandment, one of the big ten (in which gay marriage is never mentioned, I might add) daily, and have convinced you to overlook that fact. The word “False Prophet” comes to mind.
As I stated in my original statement, I am antiabortion. Always have been. However, I find it very hypocritical that the masses of neo-Christians…so called because they’re trying to redefine and manipulate the meaning of Christianity…feel the life of an unborn child is any more valuable than the lived of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis. Murder is murder. And, by continuing to elect pro-war candidates they are complicite, 100% guilty, in those murders.
I’ve got a favorite bumper sticker I’d like to place on every Christian car: Prince of Peace or President of War – there is no third choice. If you elect someone into office who states they plan to continue a policy that includes the murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians, regardless of their country of origin…you are as guilty of murder as the people you’re electing. If I hired a hitman to kill someone, no one would question that I was conspiring to commit a murder. Well, if we elect a candidate, we are, in effect, hiring him/her to implement our will. There is no difference.
And, as for me judging the NeoChristians…that may be somewhat true. I’m not perfect. I do, however, know right from wrong. And denying legal rights and protections to a tax-paying segment of our population is WRONG. “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” In short, deny acceptance to any of God’s children and you’ve denied acceptance to Christ himself.
Julie Cuniglio
Brett
August 30th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
First of all, I am very shocked that you actually read my post. I didn’t think there was a chance you would ever see it but I am very glad that you did.
Your response really blows me away. With regards to homosexuality specifically, I would like to ask you to defend the practice of a sexual relationship using the Bible. Please show me where God condones sex between two people of the same gender. It is not a comandment because it doesn’t not need to be. God is very clear in both the Old and New Testament that the homosexual relationship is not natural and is an abomination in His eyes. Does that mean we need to kill homosexuals? Absolutely not. Should we make it illegal? No. We live in a free society where adults are able to make their own choices with such things as who they have sex with. There are consequences to one’s choices however. If you are a man and are attracted to other men then you will not be able to marry. Nobody is denying any rights. Homosexuals have the exact same rights as heterosexuals when it comes to marriage. A homosexual man is free to marry the same people I am free to marry. He can marry any woman that I can because marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Marriage is restrictive. We do not allow one man to marry five women. We do not allow a 40 year old man to marry a twelve year old boy or girl. Do you have a problem with these also? It is not about denying rights to people we have a problem with because we don’t like who they choose to have sex with. It is about restricting marriage to iclude those that fit withing the parameters of the meaning of marriage.
Regarding you example of “Thou Shalt Not Kill”, this is a very weak argument. You do realize, don’t you, that there are many Hebrew words that have been translated “to kill”. The word used in Exodus 20:13 is raw-taskh’. This word appears many other times in the Old Testament and is always translated “to murder”. This word speaks specifically of murder, not general killing. There are times when killing is necessary and justified but you appear to be blind to the danger we face in Islamonazi terrorism that you cannot see the evil of our enemy. We are fighting a group of people who kill women and children and strive to wipe out all Jews from the face of the Earth. Apparently you see out President and our military in this same light and believe they are equally as evil, if not more so. I am sure you would defend and justify the actions of our enemy by saying that our administration caused their actions by invading their countries.
People like you who put a moral equivalent to the two sides are a great danger to our soldiers and our safety. You embolden our enemy by calling us terrorists. You give them motivation to continue killing in the name of their false god.
I really cannot believe that you ended your response by basically saying that if you deny homosexuals the right to marry you are denying Christ Himself. I am not sure how you could Biblically defend such a statement since, as I said before, the Bible is very clear when it comes to homosexuality. I pray that those living in a homosexual lifestyle will come to see the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. If they already have and are still living in that lifestyle, I pray that they will, as Jesus told the woman caught in adultry, turn away and sin no more. “Neo-Christians” as you call them, are not perfect but they are not opposed to homosexual marriage because a political party tells them how to think. They do not support the war because they love death. They oppose homosexual marriage because they desire to protect and preserve an institution that God established at the beginning because it is the foundation of society. They support the war because evil Islamoterrorists pose a real threat to civilization and want to impose Islamic rule on the world.
I am very glad that you were able to see my post and respond. I pray that you will lose your hatred against those who try, imperfectly, to follow God’s word and God’s will and turn it to our real enemies.
Just Jules
September 1st, 2006 at 1:31 am
I stand by every word.
Killing innocent, civilian women and children and calling them ‘collateral damage’ is murder. Pure and simple. The Bible is very clear when it comes to murder, too Brett. No room for interpretation. None whatsoever.
In fact, God felt so strongly about it that he created a commandment, one of only ten, to single it out as a major sin. A MAJOR sin.
Thou shalt not be homosexual didn’t make the cut. God’s pretty thorough, so I doubt it was an oversight.
God created the Iraqis, too, Brett, the ones you are so quick to call your enemies. They are his children and he loves them just as much as he loves you or me or any other American. How do you think he feels about their murder, the ones ordering the murder, and those condoning it in his name?
My soul is in good shape. I fear for yours and others who rationalize the murder of hundreds of thousands in the name of the same God who had labeled murder as one of the top commandments.
Julie Cuniglio
Brett
September 1st, 2006 at 11:26 am
You did not address my challenge to show where in the Bible homosexuality is condoned and considered ok by God.
About killing civilian women and children, yes, that unfortunately happens in war. The question is, who is responsible for their deaths? We did not start this war. This war was started by Islamonazi Terrorists who attacked us on September 11th as well am many times before that tragic day. They targeted innocent men, women and children. In fact, they always target innocent men, women, and children every time they attack. They hide behind civilian shields in order to claim America kills innocent civilians when we strike back militarily. We do not target innocent civilians as our mode of combat like our evil enemy.
Never once did I say that the Iraqi people are our enemies. I support this war against Islamonazis because they oppress and kill the men, women, and children of their countries who oppose their rule. Millions of innocent Iraqi citizens were murdered under Saddam Hussein but you seem to ignore or forget that fact. Innocent people did not start getting killed when we went into Iraq. They were freed from the strong oppressive hand of their dictator and now fight beside us to claim their country for themselves.
God does love Iraqi people, you are right. He desires that they would repent of their sins and accept His saving grace through the death and resurection of Jesus Christ.
While civilians are being killed, we disagree who’s responsible for their blood. You want to blame us. You see us as the evil force in our world. I blame the Islamonazis who are beheading people, blowing them up in supermarkets, and flying planes into buildings in the name of Allah, the false god of Islam.
Ultimately, it is repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ that will bring peace in this world but it is our duty to fight the evil in this world that is trying to terrorize and rule over people. We must fight the evil that threatens our civilization and seeks to destroy us.
I hope someday we will meet before our Lord in Heaven and no longer battle over our differences. Until then, I strongly disagree with your view on the events of the world. America is not the bad guy in this battle. We are not perfect, but we are fighting for what is right.
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