A reader writes about Sex and Violence
“There is something profoundly wrong with a society that rewards me for killing a man and rejects me for loving one.“ Leonard Matlovich, Vietnam Vet, gay activist
Along with this quote, a reader writes:
As a society, we are more comfortable with and accepting of violence and death than with sexuality. We are totally conflicted about sex. Yet, sex deals with the affirmation of life, not the destruction of it. Our values are all upside down!
Would you comment?
It is to be expected, I think, that we have important debates – in the culture at large, and in the church as well – about sexuality. Human sexuality is a huge issue, leading to great joy and great suffering, to life, as you say – but also to oppression, depending on how we understand and direct it. (It is a sign of our tendency to scapegoat that heterosexual people who make up about 90% of the population spend so much time focusing on the homosexuality of less than 10% of the population, and so little on the damage caused by abusive or irresponsible heterosexuality.)
So we are willing to divide churches and denominations over convictions about sexuality, but we remain strangely tolerant of a variety of opinions and convictions about killing, bearing arms, capitol punishment (most recently, of a Texas man with an IQ of 61), and weapons of mass destruction. In fact, the default mode is that violence is tolerable, as long as it is “us” doing it. What does that say about us? Your comment gives us all a lot to think about. Thanks for sending it in.