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Current mood:  angsty Category: Religion and Philosophy
With all the protests over gay marriage going on now (as I had hoped would happen in my last blog), and with even some gays saying that we are asking for too much too soon, I'd like to impart a little more history to whoever actually reads this stuff. So here is a short time line of famously oppressed peoples and their rise to power.
BCE - Before Common Era
CE - Common Era, often AD
Christian demonization - 64CE after Nero blames them for the Great Fire of Rome. The Christians are seen as (and for the most part, act like) terrorists and are rounded up and executed.
Christianity in charge - 324CE after Emperor Constantine declares himself to be a Christian. It becomes the official state religion, despite the fact that Christianity is still only a minority religion throughout the empire, in 380.
Time between Worst Point and In Charge - 260 years
Black Slavery begins in US Colonies - 1654 CE when slavery for life is officially legal within the boundries of the colonies.
Black Man elected US President - 2008 CE when the country elects Barack Obama to its highest office.
Time between Worst Point and In Charge - 354 years
Gay is OKAY - As early as 12,000 BCE, there is record of ancient man creating artifacts and artwork suggesting an appreciation of homo eroticism. Before and outside of ancient Judea, homosexuality was not uncommon. Most of the ancient world was fine with, even sometimes saw as holy, homosexual activity. Homosexuality and gender-swapping stories exist in every ancient cultures' myths and legends. Many biblical scholars and historians often state that the law against homosexuality in Leviticus (dating back to around 550 BCE) was created as a secular law (not a spiritual one) in order to further set the Hebrews apart from their Caananite neighbors and to enforce the idea of a tight knit family and reproduction for the small, often invaded community. So, besides the post-Exodus Jews, no religion or nation in the ancient world had express laws against homosexuality. The first officially documented same sex marriages occur around 27 BCE.
Gay Demonization starts in the West - 342 CE after the Christian Emperors of Rome (Constantine's sons Constantius II and Constans) pass the first law against homosexual marriage. 48 years later, Emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I, and Arcadius declare homosexual sex to be illegal and those guilty to be burned alive in public. The empire continues to collect taxes on male prostitutes, however, for another 108 years. In 529, Emperor Justininian I says homosexuals are the cause of famines, earthquakes, and pestilences.
Time from No Problem to Mass Demonization by the Christianized Roman Empire - 12,342+ years.
It has been 1,667 years since the first laws against gay marriage were passed by an increasingly conservative religion controlled government. And now, coming up on 2009, we aren't even treated as equals, let alone In Charge. So, Gay Marriage...Too much too soon? I think Not.
7:06 AM
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