h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Start here: http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2011/07/photos-brute-inequality-in-the-streets-of-manhattan.html.

That's signs from a rally opposing the recent passage of marriage equality in New York. There's the usual mix of bigots. Westboro Baptist Church is well represented. So is the National Organization for Marriage. And, unusually, there are Jewish protesters. One of the signs reads "Judaism considers male homosexuality a worse sin than murder".



Then go here: http://stackexchange.com/

Stack Exchange is a network of Q&A websites. I joined for Stack Overflow, a programming website, but now probably spend more time on English Language and Usage. A recent entry to the site is called Jewish Life and Learning. That seemed to be an appropriate place to ask the obvious question.

My question was this: Obviously this bigot is not representative of Jewish thought in general, but where did he get that from? Was the statement that homosexuality is worse than murder made up from whole cloth, or does it have any support, however tenuous, in Jewish thought?

So I asked that question, and awaited the forthcoming reasoned, referenced answer.

And ....

I was censured for calling him a bigot.



I honestly had not seen that coming. This guy says that homosexuality is worse than murder. I'll repeat that. He says that homosexuality is worse than murder. I still can't quite get my head around that. I don't throw words like "bigot" around lightly, but there has to be some point at which any lighter word is, simply, wrong. It honestly had not occurred to me that using the word "bigot" in connection with this statement would be at all contentious.



Some of the stuff that's been posted on Jewish Life and Learning in response to me probably counts as hate speech in contravention of Stack Exchange policies. I'm trying to work out how to report it. Flagging stuff goes only to the local moderators.

TRiG.

Yadu: TRiG, Anyone who calls someone a bigot for just thinking that homosexuality (homosexual acts) is worse than murder (if that is what his religion truly believes) is himself bigoted against the practitioners of that said religion. [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]This is a free country. One may believe whatever he likes and you should be tolerant of this. According to the Princton definiton of the term "bigot" the issue is intolerance of other's opinions. The fact that one may believe an act as being worse than murder has absolutely nothing to do with intolerance of opinions.



So we have,

(a) continuing in an off-topic aside (which is perfectly fine here on h2g2, but frowned on on Stack Exchange);
(b) the standard "you must be tolerant of my intolerance" fallacy, which is just silly;
(c) support for hate speech, which contravenes Stack Exchange policy.
(d) gross hypocricy (he's allowed to say I'm worse than a murderer, but I'm not allowed to suggest his remarks are somewhat impolite).

Anything else?

TRiG.

Oh, and the link.

http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/9077/homosexuality-is-worse-than-murder

TRiG.

And I wrote that opening post in an Internet Cafe in Dublin F1749279?thread=8259593 with the owner fussing around and telling us he was closing in fifteen minutes. I'm now in another Internet Cafe, and would like to take the opportunity to expand on what I wrote before.



I hang around the Jewish Life and Learning site. I like it. I find it fascinating. This is probably partly because, having been brought up Jehovah's Witness, I was taught a lot about Judaism and Jewish beliefs, much of which now turns out to be bullshit. Discovering what actual Jews actually believe is interesting. Admittedly, there's a lot of jargon, and a lot of the time I don't properly understand either the questions or the answers, but I follow it well enough to "get a feel for" the religion.

So I hang around a fair bit, and read a lot, and post very little.

TRiG.