Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.
There is something about the word sex that gets us all excited.
The LGBTQ community is often subjected to a barrage of ignorance from the straight community whether it is invasive sexual questioning of one’s gender or unwanted criticism, nothing seems to be off limits.
Her Excellency the Governor General of Barbados Dame Sandra Mason said in the throne speech delivered recently that there will be a referendum on same sex marriage but for now the government will recognize civil unions for same sex couples, and like clockwork the usual suspects were out in their numbers quoting, ad nauseum, passages from the Bible.
Then there are the religious institutions that get excited every time the word sex is mentioned, whether it is homoSEXuality, same sexmarriage, same as sex union, but nary a word is uttered when it comes to adultery or fornication because sex is not in those two words.
According to Exodus in the Old Testament, God issued his own set of laws (the Ten Commandments) to Moses on Mount Sinai; number 6 thou shalt not commit adultery and number 9 thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife carries as much weight as “marriage is between a man and a woman.”
The Ten Commandments are considered divine law because God himself revealed them. And because they were spelled out specifically with no room for ambiguity.
The church has an à la carte approach to religion by its practice of ordering individual dishes from the menu, the Bible, as opposed to table d’hôte, where a set menu is offered.
Why the silence from the church on “thou shall not commit adultery, thou shall not covet thy neighbour’s wife? Being in the majority leads some people to falsely assume that they have an inherent right not only to interrogate those who are marginalized, but to judge everything by comparing it to their own worldview.
If the church was as vociferously vocal in its condemnation of crime in Barbados as it is on this issue of civil unions, maybe and just maybe, gun violence and the crime rate would fall precipitously.
Michael Callender
