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DeadCanDanceFan commented on the blog post Rev. Irene Monroe: Amendment One boosts eliminationist rhetoric by gay-hating pastors
Overall I think you make some good points. But, it seems as if you make a false equivalency between the dangers of religious dogma and science.
It is true that science has had some spectacular failures in regards to sexual and gender minorities. However, my guess is that much of these biases were influenced by, you guessed it, religious beliefs and prejudices that permeated the culture of the time. For example, I would argue as some secular and Jewish scholars have, that Nazi Germany, including its egregious medical and scientific practices, was influenced, at least in part, by centuries of Christian based antisemitism. One might counter that these were not true Christianity. But, I’d argue that at the time the vast majority of the followers of Jesus in Nazi Germany believed that such ideas were part of being a dutiful, heartfelt believer.
I think the Enlightenment, for all its faults and failings, has helped to weaken the influence of religion, which has allowed for, at least in part, the conditions that permit LGBT communities to develop and even flourish. If anything scientific research has generally provided a viable and persuasive counterpoint to religious dogma, which is at the heart at these recent calls for extermination.
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