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Christians
like U. S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions like to smugly recite
biblical scripture to promulgate their self-righteous acts of
discrimination. In defending Trump’s indefensible policy of
separating children from their families-even a child while being
breastfed - Sessions cited a passage from Apostle Paul’s
epistle to the Romans:
“I
would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in
Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has
ordained them for the purpose of order,” Sessions said.
“Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and
protect the weak and lawful.”
While
clearly Session is no biblical scholar evident in his bastardization
of Paul’s message, Session knows Romans 13 is nonetheless used
as an edit to obey authority. The scripture has been used as a text
of terror by miscreant thugs in power throughout history: slave
owners, Nazi sympathizers, apartheid-enforcers, supporters of
Japanese-American internment and loyalists opposed to the American
Revolution, to name a few. Christians like Session is now trying to
apply Romans 13 to present-day issues like abortion, taxes and
same-sex marriage.
Our
LGBTQ community continues to be clobbered with biblical texts to
either scare us straight or terrorize our everyday existence.
I
recently received a query from a troubled soul in our community:
"I’m
a transman. One of my brothers from church asked me this: if being an
LGBTQ+ is not a sin because it is part of human diversity then what
is? Does that mean we are allowed to do anything that we desire like
adultery, incest, prostitution, pornography (just to name a few)? I
don’t know how to respond, so please enlighten me regarding
this subject matter.”
If
Sessions were to respond Romans 13 would be in his arsenal along with
the Christian classics of homophobic scriptures, like Genesis 19,
Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26-27, Matthew 19:3-6, 1 Corinthians
6:9-10, to name a few.
The
Bible is replete with contradictory and damning messages to all
people. Determining which messages are discarded and which are upheld
is not a battle about biblical inerrancy or God's will. It is an
unmitigated battle of human will either to uphold justice as Jesus
spoke about or to codify discrimination as Session is so fond of
doing.
For
example, there are two creationist myths in the Bible (Genesis 1:27
and Genesis 2:22). The first myth says that God made woman and man
simultaneously. The second creation myth is our "rib story"
in which Eve is born from a rib of Adam. Undoubtedly this story has
ribbed and poked at Christian women throughout the centuries since it
is the authoritative text for substantiating gender inequity in
society. The Curse of Ham (Genesis 9:18-27), and Apostle Paul's edict
to slaves (Ephesian 6:5-8) served as the scientific and Christian
legitimation for the enslavement of people of African ancestry. The
Sodom and Gomorrah narrative (Genesis 19:1-29) is one of the most
quoted scriptures to argue for compulsory heterosexuality and queer
bashing.
My
heart aches and soul cries out knowing what’s going on at our
country’s southern border. But sadly that’s not the case
for many of Trump’s henchmen. To enforce, protect and cement
Trump’s zero-tolerance policy of prohibiting undocumented
immigrants crossing the border from Mexico into the U. S. Session's
use of scripture show neither a scintilla of humanity nor a speck of
hope for these people seeing asylum. To see children crying and
traumatized from being separated from their parents and then held in
human cages like criminals are not only an act of moral turpitude but
it’s also a pox on the moral integrity of this country.
Legally,
it is a universal human right to seek asylum. And, morally,
governments have an obligation to come to the aid of those fleeing
persecution, a minimum standard any decent government recognizes.
Is
it the will of God to devalue and to dehumanize the lives of
families and willfully tear children from their parents.
While
it’s Session’s will to do so, his church is charging him
with child abuse and racial discrimination.
Citing
Paragraph 2702.3 of the 2016 United Methodist Book of Discipline,
640 members of his church charged Sessions “with the chargeable
offenses of” child abuse, immorality, and racial
discrimination.
“As
his denomination, we have an ethical obligation to speak boldly when
one of our members is engaged in causing significant harm in matters
contrary to the Discipline on the global stage,” the church
letter states.
Session’s
as our A.G. is not being held accountable for his heinous actions.
But, he forgets as a Christian he will be.
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