Christian students walk out as Dan Savage attacks the Bible

By CentralDogma
in Real World News

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CentralDogma

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Several high school students walked out of a lecture by Dan Savage, the gay rights campaigner, after he linked certain passages in the Bible, which he called him ?bulls**t,? and homophobic bullying.

Mr Savage, best known for the viral ?It Gets Better? campaign, was addressing a group of students at the National High School Journalist Conference in Seattle.

In the lecture, he said: ?People often say that they can?t help with the anti-gay bullying acts because it says right there in Leviticus, it says right there in Timothy, it says right there in Timothy, it says right there in Romans, that being gay is wrong.?

?We can learn to ignore the bulls**t in the Bible and what it says about gay people,? he said, and went on to compare the acceptance of homophobic teachings to the acceptance of those verses which seem to support slavery and eating shellfish.

Although the audience seemed to applaud Mr Savage?s comments, some Christian students seemed to take offence and walked out.

The conservative leaning Fox News invited one of the people who attended the lecture, and he said that the situation felt hostile. Another commentator told the news channel that far from being about anti-bullying, it became a pointed attack on Christian beliefs.

However, Mr Savage himself quickly said later in the lecture: ?The bible guys in the hall can come back now because I?m done beating up the bible.?

?It?s funny,? he added, ?as someone who?s on the receiving end of beatings that are justified by the bible, how pansy-assed some people react when you push back.?

The National Scholastic Press Association, which sponsored the conference, defended Mr Savage. ?We appreciate the level of thoughtfulness and deliberation regarding Dan Savage?s keynote address,? the executive director of the NSPA told Fox News.

?Some audience members who felt hurt by his words and tone decided to leave in the middle of his speech, and to this, we want to make our point very clear: While as a journalist it?s important to be able to listen to speech that offends you, these students and advisers had simply reached their tolerance level for what they were willing to hear.?

Mr Savage himself apologised if anyone was hurt by his comments, but said he would not apologise for what he said.

He started the ?It Gets Better? campaign in order to counter homophobic bullying, and the many teenage suicides it occasioned. Among others, it has attracted contributions from President Barack Obama, David Cameron, and PinkNews.co.uk founder, Ben Cohen.

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Aethec

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If they are too blinded by faith to understand that Savage's point on not respecting Leviticus to the letter is perfectly valid, they're stupid, period.

I'd bet most of the students who stayed, like most Americans, were Christian - just not the completely stupid kind.

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KillTheIrishman

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If they are too blinded by faith to understand that Savage's point on not respecting Leviticus to the letter is perfectly valid, they're stupid, period.

I'd bet most of the students who stayed, like most Americans, were Christian - just not the completely stupid kind.

Those individuals had the right to walk out if their beleifs are being desecrated just in as much as Savage had the right to spew his "opinion".

  • Yorak, -KJ and dogmatix
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Twiddle

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Learnt? Really? Learned ;)

Really showed your ass here bud.

learntpast participle, past tense of learn (Verb)

Verb:

  • Gain or acquire knowledge of or skill in (something) by study, experience, or being taught.
  • Commit to memory.

Yeah, http://www.merriam-w...ctionary/learnt.

Luckily for us, you learnt something today. ;)

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smooth_criminal1990

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hmm, sounded like he (the guy in the article) was attacking Judaism as well with the thing about shellfish. Some people seem to get touchy when someone points out the glaring contradictions and floors in the bible, but that bloke did sound like he was being rather aggressive, singling them out etc.

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shakey

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Those individuals had the right to walk out if their beleifs are being desecrated just in as much as Savage had the right to spew his "opinion".

Opinion is something that one holds about something, based off of what you know, but isn't actually "trutuhful" or "factual".... He was speaking "facts". People do pick and choose what they want to believe in, and ignore everything else that goes against what they choose to believe.

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+Heartripper Subscriber¹

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So what? If they started offending/attacking him there would be something wrong, but they just walked away. Today everything about christians make the news :/

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KillTheIrishman

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Opinion is something that can not be proved. He was speaking "facts". People do pick and choose what they want to believe in, and ignore everything else that goes against what they choose to believe.

He was not speaking "facts"- only opinions. People believe what they know to be true- not fact.

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shakey

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He was not speaking "facts"- only opinions. People believe what they know to be true- not fact.

No. Fact is, people cherry pick what they want out of the bible to believe in, while choosing not to believe in other parts. That is FACT.

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KillTheIrishman

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No. Fact is, people cherry pick what they want out of the bible to believe in, while choosing not to believe in other parts. That is FACT.

So where was the cherry picking? You either believe or you don't. Everyone that does or does not believe has the right to stay or go.

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Twiddle

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I learnt to burnt something today. :)

:p

No. Fact is, people cherry pick what they want out of the bible to believe in, while choosing not to believe in other parts. That is FACT.

While I can't say everyone, this is definitely fact, from which I see first hand every day. And honestly, a very good one. I couldn't imagine if people, even one individual followed it word for word. That would be a truly terrifying world of violence, and bigotry.

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shakey

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So where was the cherry picking? You either believe or you don't. Everony that does or does not believe has the right to stay or go.

Are you serious or just trolling? Cuase if you are serious.... I don't even think I'm going to start this downhill discussion....

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