Dear Mr. Sharma,
Hello. I have not seen your film as of yet, but I admire the guts you've had to produce it. Also, though I am a Christian I am much opposed to the persecution of homosexuals. What's more, I'm libertarian-leaning in my politics.
Therefore, the following is neither about your orientation nor about the gay community as a whole. I cannot help echoing the sentiment of film reviewer Jim Ridley, who writes that your movie "leaves open a provocative question: If you pick and choose which tenets of a religion apply to you, is it still a religion?"
That is a very good, very fair question, and should be put also to professing Christians who, like yourself, are attempting to syncretize Christianity and homosexuality. What offends me is neither that you are gay nor that you are Muslim - but that you are presumptuous enough to think you can just go ahead and alter the contours of a given religion.
Now, as a Christian, I must tell you that I hold Islam to be a false religion and Muhammad a false prophet. However, looking at it from your point of view, if you hold that he was a genuine prophet and that Allah's authority stands behind the Qur'an, then how do you presume to suggest that it's okay to be a gay Muslim? If you want to be gay, then why not just pick a different religion or start your own? If you want to be Muslim, then why wouldn't you obey what you believe to be Allah's word? If Allah is the true God, then why should he change his standards for you? And why on earth would you expect him to?
I'm sorry but while, like you, I am distressed by Islamic violence, nonetheless you show a stark lack of integrity to think that you can be a member of a given religion yet not bother adhering to that religion's standards. It's hypocrisy. How do you explain yourself?
Thanks and regards,
Andy Derksen
"Tell me I have led a good life. . . .
Tell me I'm a good man."
¾Saving Private Ryan (1998)
"No one is good except God alone."
¾Jesus (Mark 10:18)
Also, I just have to reproduce this ; )
As a Roman Catholic I know that homosexuality is clearly defined in both the King James and the New International Version-as well as the North American Bible that I use. How can you keep fooling yourself into thinking that it is O.K. to practice fornication and the defilement of God's Creation-your body-the "Temple of the Holy Spirit". I may be wrong but I beleive that homosexuality is condemned as part of the Arabic Culture and teachings of traditional Islam, as it certainly is for Arabic Christians.
As God Loves You and so Do I. Please Turn Away, all Followers of Sinful Living, and Embrace the Teachings of Our Good Father so as to Gain Eternal Live in Heaven. I Humbly Ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ and through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
-Carol
2 comments:
I was raised Catholic, but as an adult I follow no religeon. Partly because I find religeon to be more corrupt, harmful and exclusive than helpful and good. Andy Derksen's comment is thought provoking to me.
I am psyched to see the film!
I regret that adjectives like Christian and Muslim and Jew must define and exclude. I regret that those who call themselves by one name or another need to establish their religion in their own minds by Rigid Rules rather than the costly submission of love. I would not call Rigid Rules Law or Torah out of respect for a true love of Torah. Rules are a convenient substitute for thought and are a dangerous barrier to honesty in some situations. Culture is fearful of touch, anxious for control, and desiring power, and so individuals and cultures often confuse running from fear or desire for power and control with truth.
If - and it is a big 'if' - the religious opponents of committed love between same-gendered partners could phrase their opposition from the experience of their own love of God and not from their own fear whether of God or of themselves, then they might see that they need not fear, for their God in love - they would know - and they would know that God is capable of bringing to joy people other than themselves and their own imagined 'in-group'.
Persevere and continue your good work. I have kept my few readers informed of your progress on my personal blog.
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