Friday, April 4, 2014

Intolerance by Gays Claims Mozilla's Eich


I've used Firefox for years.

Apparently, a guy named Brendan Eich helped invent it.

This week, he was forced to resign from the company that runs Firefox - a company he helped create - because he once donated money to a heterosexual marriage effort in California.

And the gay lobby considers his ouster a victory for their cause.

Eich helped develop Firefox, an Internet browser that has been around for about 15 years, and is managed by a company called Mozilla, which is actually a non-profit.  Ironic, actually, since this means Eich is all about information, information flow, and education.  Regardless of one's ability to pay for it.

And what does one do with the information they receive?  They base opinions upon it.  We all do it.  Liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, gay, straight, bi, evangelical, agnostic, New Yorker, Texan, and on and on.  Even people who aren't very educated can base their opinions on whatever level of education they've had.  And those folks can be just as dangerous as the folks who've had too much education for their own good, and struggle to derive opinions from it all.

Suffice it to say that Eich has spent his career helping people become less uneducated.

Other than that, I know very little about the guy.  I don't know anything about his personal faith.  In fact, after all of this exploded in our media, I've purposely refrained from researching Eich (via Firefox, of course) because for this essay, it doesn't matter if he's anti-gay-marriage, or anti-heterosexual-marriage, or vegan, or a Marxist, or a fan of Lucille Ball.  He's a citizen of the United States, and as such, he has the right to think what he wants to think about a social issue that a lot of people are debating right now.

And he felt forced to give up his job because something for which he indicated support isn't politically correct.  How enlightened of his foes.  The irony is baffling.

Is this the kind of America pro-gay-marriage people want?

I do not believe gay marriage is moral, or entirely practical.  I don't believe governments should endorse it, because the only reason governments endorse heterosexual marriage is because it's the only way a society can perpetuate itself.  Biology, remember?  Adoption is a great thing, but it's not the normal way human beings build their communities.

Now yes, according to the Bible, being gay is itself a sin, but it's not something that should be outlawed.  Nor should gays who want to live together be legally prohibited from doing so.  But a government has no obligation to legally recognize relationships between people of the same sex who profess love for each other, because there's no literal benefit from its doing so.

Some gays are apparently so insecure in their sexual preference that it scares them when somebody doesn't hold their opinion.  Kinda like the right-wing religious bigots who apparently are so insecure in their faith that they get scared by atheists.  After all, there's a difference between upholding our holy God's authority over sexuality, which He created, and degrading sinners who may not be performing the types of sins we ourselves let slide.  Since like gluttony, gossip, speeding, lying, lusting... see what I mean?

If I were as smart as Eich, and helped to run a company like Mozilla, I'd certainly be vilified for my views.  Especially since they seem to be far stronger than his.  He donated $1,000 - which in Silicon Valley terms, is pocket change - to an effort to keep heterosexual marriage exclusive in his state.  Not exactly the hallmark of an ardent anti-gay bigot, is it?  But still, isn't it his right to donate his money to political causes that may not be politically correct?  It's not a crime to do that, is it?  Granted, he's likely not surprised that his is is not the fashionable view in an industry that grovels at the feet of youth, fads, and pop culture, incessantly pushing for the next big thing.  All things considered, however, Eich is hardly an anti-gay-marriage fundamentalist thug who's been heartily thwarting gay rights at every opportunity.

Yes, there are plenty of anti-gay-marriage fundamentalist thugs out there who indeed have been heartily thwarting gay rights at every opportunity.  And I believe the attitudes displayed by those folks are just as wrong as they are of the folks who pushed Eich out of his job.  And the fact that both of these polarizing, extremist segments of our society exist helps bolster my personal advocacy for not only moderate politics, but the Fruit of the Spirit.  After all, it's not moderation that causes destructive, vindictive polarization.

Right-wing evangelicals scoff at people like me, because they say we're not as forceful in the stands we take for what's true.  Which, of course, is the same argument left-wingers use for Democrats who are willing admit that compromise isn't a dirty word.  Irony again, huh?  When it comes to politics and social policy, American evangelicals have for too long simplistically assumed that right equals might.  Meanwhile, I continue to be fascinated by the distinctly non-adversarial tone Christ exhibited with the leaders of His day when it came to politics.  Granted, the heady option of gay marriage wasn't up for discussion back then, but if it was, what is it from the Fruit of the Spirit that Christ would not have embodied?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

It's what people of faith should have been exhibiting to our adversaries for years, isn't it?  Not the righteous vitriol recklessly patterned after Christ's emptying of the moneychangers from the temple.  Not the crude jokes, or the blatant discrimination in the workplace, or even the anti-sodomy laws, which were about as effective as anti-adultery laws would have been.

What scripture denies that the Fruit of the Spirit is what Christ would like to see from me, and you, if you also advocate for heterosexual marriage?

Some gay writers have come out in support of Eich.  Not for his views on the subject of gay marriage, but his right to hold those views, and support them in a legal fashion.  These gays are appalled by the fanatical contempt being demonstrated by radicals who are pushing for total intolerance of compromise or differing opinions.  Sounds like the same intolerance of which right-wing fundamentalists used to be accused, doesn't it?

When those of us who claim to follow Christ deploy tactics and attitudes that differ little from those who are wrong, isn't that more disparaging of us, than them?  Instead, in the face of surly opposition, might the counter-cultural Fruit of the Spirit be more distinctive of those who trust in the holy God of the universe?

Tides turn, but truth doesn't.  We're increasingly seeing what the shoe looks like when it's on the other foot.  Unfortunately for people like Eich, his adversaries don't have access to the Fruit that God wants displayed in the lives of His people.

We do, however.  And yes, He does.


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