MAKING PIE OUT OF PICKED CHERRIES

The only thing wrong with being queer is how some people treat you when they find out.

A bold statement, I agree. But I stand by it, using it as a lodestone for my novels and other fiction. And as I’ve observed or participated in debates about whether it’s true, I’ve been fascinated by what appears to be a pretty clear delineation between flawed assumptions that are not based on religious beliefs, and equally flawed assumptions that are.

This dichotomy inspired me to use my Substack site (Robin Reardon Writes) to highlight the flawed assumptions that are based on Biblical scripture. I’m collecting the cherries (that is, scriptural verses) that anti-gay “people of faith” pick out of context in an effort to condemn LGBTQ+ people, and I’m making pie out of those cherries. That is, I’ll put the verses back into context, where they belong, and where they by no means condemn anyone based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

I’ll update this blog each time I write a new post. Here’s what I’ve written so far.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES, in which I describe a critical difference between religion and faith, and between religion and fact, and establish a factual foundation upon which other posts will be based.

ADAM & STEVE, in which I push back hard against assertions that the Bible defines marriage as one man and one woman.

SODOM & GOMORRAH, in which I demonstrate how obvious it is that this story is not about homosexuality, despite how many knickers get twisted by one verse in what is really a rather long Biblical story.

There will be more posts to come. The goal of this series is to make a case for what I believe all religion should point toward: Love.