The very idea of burning a gay novel is far more silly and absurd than any reasonable opposition that a group of Christian fundamentalists might have to such a novel. And it really is a pity that this truth is lost on a group of Christians in the state of Wisconsin. They want to burn a gay novel—Francesca Lia Block’s Baby Be-Bop—which they regard as explicitly vulgar. Now, as it happens I have wondered why these very same Christians did not become equally distraught upon learning about the website HolyWesternEmpire.Org that was maintained by James W. von Brunn (This site has since been shut down, no thanks to the public outcry of Christians as such. However, for an incomplete version of the home-page of the website, obtained from the Google cache files, click here.)
At any rate, the point is that these Wisconsin Christians claim to be concerned with the destruction of the fabric of society; and it is surely arguable that, in his own inimitable way, Brunn has also been very much contributing to the destruction of the fabric of society, albeit in an ever so different way.
I mean if the principle for getting utterly irate and taking a public stand is that a given practice or item is contributing to the destruction of society, then the simple fact of the matter is that there is no shortage of things to get irate about.
Now, of course, I understand all too well that no one can be concerned with everything at once. Pursuing some concerns well and effectively invariably means leaving aside other equally important concerns.
Just so, it is not somewhat revealing when Christians fundamentalists who claim to be concerned with righteous behavior generally seem to become particularly agitated only with regard to the issue of gay sex? Why? Because it is not even remotely plausible that Christians could think that gay sex is the only issue in the world that needs to be forcefully addressed. What is more the biblical condemnation of gay sex does not seem to place it at the very top of the list morally despicable wrongs. As I have indicated, Brunn’s moral behavior is certainly objectionable. Yet, we do not see that Christian groups have, in any very public way, gone after him and folks like him.
No one reading the biblical texts could reasonably think that the following conclusion is warranted: If there is one kind of behavior more than any other that must stopped it is homosexual behavior. Yet, the way some Christians behave—the folks in Wisconsin being a case in point—one would think that it is precisely this conception of wrongdoing that is fully warranted by a fair and judicious reading of the biblical text.
It will be noticed that I have arrived at this conclusion not by defending homosexuality. I have in fact done no such thing. And while that may bother some, it is worth noting that I have arrived at my cogent criticism of Christian fundamentalists (those in Wisconsin, in particular) simply by observing that whatever else is true the obsession with homosexuality as a wrong, as if it were the most fundamental of wrongs, that we find on the part of Christians is surely misplaced, given what one actually finds in the biblical text itself.
The very point here is show just how much Christian fundamentalists likes these folks in Wisconsin are open to serious moral criticism by their behavior without ever once providing an argument in defense of homosexuality.
It is often extremely useful to see what actually follows if one concedes the essential premise. For instance, I have claimed that it is simply not plausible to hold that homosexuality is the most egregious of moral wrongs. Between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, surely child sexual abuse is the greater moral wrong; and if Christian fundamentalists—the folks in Wisconsin, say—could only eliminate one of these, clearly it is child sexual abuse that they should aim to eliminate. This, of course, will include criticizing some homosexuals, but it will also include criticizing lots and lots and lots of heterosexuals.
There is no better evidence of that a person or even a group of persons have a warped mentality in some respect than that they engage in self-defeating behavior. But for the silliness of these Wisconsin Christians most people would probably never have heard of Francesca Lia Block’s Baby Be-Bop. Not so, now. Thanks to the silly self-righteousness of these Wisconsin Christians, the book now enjoys a publicity that it would never have otherwise received. And surely they have to know that no judge is going to rule that it is permissible for them to burn the book.
No judge should deliver that ruling, whatever a judge’s views about the morality of homosexuality might be. Lots and lots of immoral behaviors are quite permissible. When a married person has a sexual liaison this is immoral and indeed it can be grounds for divorce. However, the sexual liaison itself is not illegal. No married person can be put in jail or subject to a legal fine on account of having a sexual liaison. It is not even grounds for dismissal. The very idea of a judge ruling that it is permissible to burn Francesca Lia Block’s Baby Be-Bop is at best an amusing fantasy and at worse the sign of a delusion. And once more: It is inconceivable that these Wisconsin Christians do not know this.
Finally in this regard: It does not take genius to grasp that gays do not have a monopoly on vulgar sexual behavior. Accordingly, there is no reason to focus upon vulgar sexual behavior by gays more so than vulgar sexual behavior by straights. What is more, given the importance that Christian fundamentalists attach to female modesty, it really is not possible for them to argue that vulgar sexual behavior by straights is less morally objectionable. They have to say that the woman is not respecting herself and the man is not respecting the woman. So, we still have two people acting vulgarly, according to Christian fundamentalists, though ne’er a gay person is involved.
All that I have said in the preceding paragraphs is so patently obvious that it is mind-boggling that these Christian fundamentals of Wisconsin could be so myopic in their thinking as to not see the utter foolishness of their behavior and legal request. In this regard, then, I am reminded of a biblical passage that they would do well to read and reflect upon; for they have done more to make themselves look silly and foolish than anything that gays might have been able to accomplish had this been the aim of gays. It would seem that these Wisconsin Christian fundamentalists suffer from being more than a little full of themselves, which in turn gives Christianity a bad name. Here is the biblical passage that lends some credence to that assessment:
Pride goeth before destruction,
and an haughty spirit before a fall
(Proverbs 16:18)
I like.