On Sunday, May 27, 2012, Screwy Louie Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam (NOI), became the latest reactionary leader to publicly denounce President Obama’s defense of same-sex marriage. Speaking at the California Convention Center, the Sinister Minister said Obama is “the first president that sanctioned what the Scriptures forbid.” Indeed, not only does the Bible forbid sexual intercourse between members of the same sex, it condones the killing of homosexuals.
Most Black people are far more supportive of Obama than they are of Louis Farrakhan. After all, according to a Washington Post/ABC survey, Black support for same-sex marriage increased to 59 percent since Obama’s endorsement. This is, amazingly, a clear majority among a group that many have deemed to be one of the most homophobic in the U.S.
Farrakhan broke out the usual reactionary message about hating the sin and loving the sinner. He addressed some of his remarks to any Black LGBTQI people that might have been listening. He said, “I’m your brother and I do love you.” He added, “If I didn’t love you, I would go along with you” and support same-sex relations. As usual, he denied that he is homophobic.
To his credit, Loony Lou Farrakhan has toned down his blatantly homophobic rhetoric in recent years. This is largely in response to input from religious progressives such as Cornel West, Al Sharpton, and Michael Eric Dyson. As a result of such input, a Black gay rights leader was permitted to speak at the 10th anniversary celebration of the Million Man March.
Writers in the Final Call, the group’s official newspaper, no longer condemn “faggotry,” even though many NOI members still refer to gay men as faggots. What is more disturbing is that Minister Farrakhan does not speak out harshly against homophobia, especially as it manifests itself in Africa.
Farrakhan warmly embraces his “brother,” Robert Mugabe, the tyrant of Zimbabwe. Mugabe consistently denounces homosexuality and once said “Gays are lower than pigs and dogs.” His bodyguards once brutally beat a gay rights activist who was trying to make a citizen’s arrest of the leader in the United Kingdom.
All over Africa, there are laws against homosexuality, and in many nations, they are trying to criminalize it further, even calling for the death penalty. Nigeria is promoting stronger laws against homosexuality. (This is where Farrakhan once befriended the dictator Sani Abacha, who stole billions of dollars from his people.) Yet Farrakhan has never expressed any rage against these reactionary ideas and practices, nor has he spoken out forcefully in defense of LGBTQI people.
Farrakhan complained that people are wrong to strive to be modern. He quoted the Bible: “I am God and I change not.” Therefore, Farrakhan maintains that true Christians are not supposed to change and go against the Word of God as expressed in the Bible.
This idiotic notion raises other questions. Should we still treat women as property? Should we still kill people for working on the Sabbath or practicing astrology? Should we still stone to death women that are not virgins? Should we still stone adulterers and other “sinners?” Should we still commit genocide against the enemies of God?
What would Obama say about all of this crap? To answer this question, it is only necessary to go back to his excellent speech in June, 2006. He said:
I was not raised in a particularly religious household….My father, who returned to Kenya when I was two, was born Muslim. My mother, whose parents were non-practicing Baptists and Methodists, was probably one of the most spiritual and kindest people I’ve ever known, but grew up with a healthy skepticism of organized religion herself. As a consequence, so did I.
Obama did not become religious until later in life. Still, he could never believe everything in the Bible. Nor could he ever be a theocrat, like Farrakhan. He added: “. . . we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.”
Obama went on to discuss some of the primitive absurdities of the Bible: “…Leviticus…suggests slavery is ok….Deuteronomy suggests slaying your child if he strays from the faith.” He added that the Sermon on the Mount is “a passage that is so radical that it’s doubtful that our own Defense Department would survive its application.”
The man who would become President admitted, “. . . this is going to be difficult for some who believe in the inerrancy of the Bible, as many evangelicals do.” Indeed, they are still howling today about these statements.
Finally, Obama said that in the 21st Century, people would “call the police and expect the Department of Children and Family Services to take Isaac away from Abraham” if he thought God had told him to kill his son. Yet those that believe in biblical inerrancy continue to promote this story as though blind obedience to petrified opinion is life’s greatest virtue. (Obama’s speech can be read in full).
In truth, as the great 19th Century freethinker Robert Green Ingersoll noted, we have been saved by disobedience to the supposed Word of God. It is how we make progress and become increasingly humane. We must continue to improve and promote secular ideals and planetary humanism.
Farrakhan said “The Constitution came out of the value of [the Founders’] recognition of this book” [the Bible]. Of course, this is just more pseudo-history on Farrakhan’s part. The Founders were obsessed with creating a republic which would not be torn asunder by religion. To quote letter writer Kenny Nipp in the May 18, 2012 issue of USA TODAY, “The Constitution’s first three words are ‘We the people,’ not ‘We the Christians.” Indeed, it would do Farrakhan well to keep this in mind the next time he tries to foist his theocratic views upon an unsuspecting public, or tries to make his opinions on same-sex marriage a matter of public policy.