A church in Harlem has put up a sign that combines the paranoia of fundamentalist Christianity and Republican politics into a singularity of irrational fear:

Yes, because the President saying he’s changed his mind on gay marriage totally changes the amount of gay people in the world and what they do in their spare time.

What really gets me about this is the last part: a white homo may take your man. Does James Manning, the pastor at the church, believe black gay people don’t exist? And why is this more deserving of a sign than the prospect that a white woman (or black woman) may take “your” man? I don’t see how anything Obama has done has increased or decreased the odds of someone cheating. Plenty of Christians cheat in their own heterosexual marriages long before the first gay person was afforded the right to marry.

And what’s more, I really hate the phrase “your man” or “your woman”. You don’t own people, and if someone chooses to fuck or date someone else of their own volition, you aren’t being denied anything you own. Your love life should be governed by who they want to interact with, not by concern with the feelings of someone who feels you belong to them in some capacity.

But this captures the primary tactic of religion: be afraid. Be afraid of demons, of hell, be afraid of the people we tell you to be afraid of, even though they just want a white picket fence and could give a shit less about you. Even though we believe god’s fully in charge and is always looking out for his followers, you and Christianity could be destroyed at any moment. Gay people are going to destroy your marriage, your home, even America. Nevermind how we know this, what you need to know is that it’s the TRUTH.

That is one of the best things about being an atheist. There’s plenty to be afraid of in life. It’s nice to face it without the additional, fancinful machinations of fevered religious leaders. And life is far too short to miss out on interacting with good people because they find one set of genitals more appealing than another (which surely every straight person can relate to). To me, when determining the people I feel most comfortable around, a person’s kindness and integrity are more important factors than whether or not they day dream of penis. I suspect this is why I have so many gay friends and so few who encourage me to be paranoid about people they’ve never met.