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February 5, 2004 -- Pioneer Press

Help Stop Spiritual Violence – Here in the NW Suburbs!

Most of us believe that violence exists elsewhere – in the Middle East, in “bad” neighborhoods, but certainly not here where we live – in the NW suburbs!  Violence does exist in our neighborhood.  Who can forget the Brown’s Chicken Murders?  Yet, I imagine that few people are aware of the Spiritual Violence that is present all around us. 

First of all, what is “Spiritual Violence”?  Let’s take each word separately.  Spiritual refers to that associated with one’s faith, religious beliefs, or moral beliefs.  Violence can be physical, emotional, or verbal abuse of another person.  Abuse is defined as anything that is harmful to one’s well being.  Therefore, Spiritual Violence is using religious or moral beliefs to harm the well being of another person. 

I am a victim of Spiritual Violence.  I have had “Dyke” and “Queer” shouted at me while driving through Palatine.  I have seen signs telling me that “God hates Gays”, “AIDS is God’s cure for homosexuality” and that “Jesus says that Gays are going to Hell” – here at Chicago’s Pride Parade.  My niece has told me that she and her husband believe that they should not associate with me since I profess to be a Christian – but also admit to being a lesbian.  They have told me that they do not want me around their new son because of my sinfulness.  She and her husband attend a local church in Rolling Meadows – and are following its teachings. 

Conservative religious teachers profess that God loves everyone – and that God hates homosexuality.  As a lesbian, I wrestled with this mixed message for years.  How can God love me, yet hate me for who I am?  Is it no wonder then that suicide rates among homosexuals is greater than the rest of the population?  I finally realized that I was a victim of Spiritual Violence and that I didn’t have to agree with those teachings.  Others may agree with those teachings, but their beliefs should not be used to harm others.

The Pilgrims came to this country searching for religious freedom.  The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion – freedom to believe what you choose and freedom from the government passing legislation to tell you what to believe.  Yet the conservative religious right has repeatedly attempted to force their beliefs that homosexuality is “wrong” upon the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender) community.   They have picketed outside of various national denominational conferences where ordination of Gays and Lesbians was under consideration, they were present at Mathew Shepard’s funeral where they held signs stating that Mathew got what he deserved because he was gay, they request and receive funding from local churches to promote legislation that is harmful to the GLBT community.

I believe that we need to work towards ending Spiritual Violence – by starting right here in the NW suburbs.  One of the organizations working to end Spiritual Violence is SOULFORCE (www.soulforce.org).  Members from the SOULFORCE Chicago chapter will be the keynote speakers at the February 23 meeting of Palatine PFLAG (www.pflag-palatine.org) from 7 – 9 pm at the Countryside Unitarian Universalist Church, 1025 N. Smith Road (between NW Highway & Dundee) Palatine, IL.  Contact PFLAG Palatine at (847) 358-3994 for additional information.

Deb Hale
Palatine, IL