I went through something terrible recently, just 3 weeks ago my father died. There was a very kind priest, a citizen of the Congo, that was visiting him daily along with my mother, my brother, and myself. His brothers and sister visited pretty regularly as well. However, when the doctors called us into the room seconds after he had died, and they hadn't even removed the breathing tube yet the rising and falling of his chest giving the illusion of life.
Several relative were gathered round his body, and it was beginning to cool. Something about Obama coming out to support gay marriage had, somehow, come up. So there's my dad, lying there, not an hour since he was passed surrounded by people agreeing with each other about how awful gay marriage is. Not looking at him, not crying, not remembering him, but instead agreeing that it was a bad thing for people to have equal rights, and at the center of this conversation was an African. You might think he would have second thoughts about declaring how awful it is for people to have equal rights.
And I knew it was my responsibility to shut up, that I would have been considered the bad seed to voice any opposition at such a moment, because dad was a Catholic and I was the only non-catholic in the room.
As far as I am concerned, this demonstrates the poison that is religion.
