Today in Disgusting People

I realize that the last post was on the same theme, but it seems as though disgusting people make the news a lot more than they used to. This story is really appalling on a number of fronts:

Sean Cormie, 23, came out as gay in the spring. Since then, he said his family has asked him to go to church and bring his partner, Gary Gardner.

On Sunday, Sept. 8, the two joined family and friends for a service at a church Cormie had already attended many times.

“I wanted to go to church to make my mom proud and make her happy,” Cormie said.

The service was normal but at the end, something unexpected happened. Cormie said as 12 to 15 congregants circled around Gardner and himself, their prayer growing louder. Meanwhile, they said the pastor began making statements against homosexuality.

“‘It’s a sin, it’s an abomination, you need to realize, wake up, and see it for a sin,’” Cormie said.

The prayer got louder and louder until the two men felt so humiliated, they got up to leave. But Gardner was shuffled out of the building alone.

"They hold me down, pin me down, and I’m crying, and the Holy Spirit just comes through me, and they keep speaking in tongues, praying over me." Cormie said he was even punched in the face. "I was just crying 'mercy, mercy.'"

First off, the behavior of the congregation is beyond reprehensible. Fortunately, Cormie had sense enough to file a police report: this is assault, at the very least, and probably a few other crimes on top of that. Of course, he's now being threatened.

And it really looks as though his parents set him up.

What stopped me cold is this:

He said he does believe homosexuality is a sin, but he can't be forced to be something he's not.

"I’m full fledged gay, you can’t change it," Cormie said. "It’s my nature. I’m born that way, so let it be."

He obviously has conflicts. I really think he should drop this church -- there are denominations that are accepting of homosexuality, if he insists on remaining a Christian. There's no need to put yourself through this kind of torture for the sake of religion. He should also do what so many of the rest of us have had to do: if your family can't accept you as you are, make your own family. And get some professional counseling.

I have a lot of objections to Christianity, particularly those fundamentalist sects that are more grounded in the Old Testament than in the Gospels. (Which includes the most prominent "Christian" spokesmen so much in the news these days -- they really are nothing more than power-hungry hypocrites.) And the doctrine of Original Sin is thoroughly repellent -- it's nothing more than a tool to enforce obedience through guilt. The idea that the way you were born is sinful springs from that, and it paints a picture of a thoroughly disgusting idea of the divine.

Via Joe.My.God.