I have taken Mohamad Sibai’s article as it is, and changed the words related to homosexuality to words related to Christianity, in an effort to make people understand why his article is bigotry, and not just self-expression. Of course, it works if you replace with with Islam as well. I wonder if Outlook would publish something like this. Just to be clear, this is not my opinion AT ALL, and for all purposes, this article was practically written by Sibai himself. I simply “edited” it.
The other day, I saw a couple holding hands along Hamra Street. Normally I would never look twice, but something was not right. They both had crosses around their necks, holding bibles, and talking about God. The sight was disturbing. Call me bigoted, call me whatever you like, I couldn’t get that image out of my head for the whole day. I couldn’t believe what I saw, I know that Lebanon aims to be an ideal ‘religious’ country, but if this is what ‘religious’ is then maybe it’s not such a good idea.
Christianity has always been a controversial subject in the world, not just Lebanon. In the United States some states have legalized prayer while others have outlawed the act. Almost every other holy religion has condemned it. Islam condemns it to a point where the culprits are to be stoned to death. The Jewish bible states “As for your male and female slaves whom you may have: you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations that are around you.” (Leviticus 25:4) Judaism also condemns those who commit such an ‘abomination’.
Even if I were to put religions aside, our cultures, logic, morals, and humanity have and hopefully always will condemn such acts whether in public or in private. Some have previously asked the question: ‘Why would God create people like that if he didn’t want us to do it?’ People are not born religious, usually one changes as he is growing from the infant stage up until puberty, some even later than that. This is, according to psychologists, due to certain factors during infancy and Christianity can be treated in various ways.
I have seen the protests all over the world on the news, and it wasn’t something I saw to be logical, or human for that matter. I mean, let’s stop for a minute and say that it was okay to be Christian all over the world and have a chain around a man’s neck and have him dragged around. How would that serve mankind any good? It obviously wouldn’t. The pair (if not more) would have lots of offspring, the rate of STDs would skyrocket, and any morality that society still had would disappear amongst a myriad other plights. In that logic, if Christianity is legalized world-wide, then let’s legalize marijuana as well. If Christian’s excuse is ‘it’s what makes us happy’ then what will stop others from taking the same stand?
The point is, humans have done well in keeping society working well and efficiently in a respectable manner. Humans have set the rules for us to abide by, not to make life hard on us, but to make it better and easier.
‘Christianity in Russia is a crime and the punishment is seven years in prison, locked up with other religious men. There is a three year waiting list’ Yakov Smirnoff.
The lust, the hunger, the addiction. Men hungering for Christian pleasure are willing to withstand the freezing environment of a metal cell in Russia just to please their insides. Is this what the human race has become?
ohmyhappiness 
John Sharplin
May 8, 2012
Good attempt at whittling away at the edges of evangelical religions. People who might be wavering it their Stone Age beliefs might be slightly swayed by this argument, but I fear it may fall on deaf ears. You’ve made a rather glaring mistake in your attempt to use logic to chip away at religions that vociferously reject logic and reason. When they do try to use logic, its of a variety that is exceedingly bad, specifically circular logic. “If the world exists, then god must exist. If god exists, then he must have made the world 6000 years ago.” I find it makes better sense to use the blunt instrument form of logic on these people. “Do you still believe in stoning?” “Oh you do? You’re an idiot.” “Oh you don’t, then what about the rest of this mess?”
Peter Hayat
May 8, 2012
Oh my God, Do I have to defend Christianity now, come on, I barely “came out” alive after Sibai’s dissertation about me and my people over the weekend,reminding us that we shall surely be put to death; our blood shall be upon us … give me a break ; I can’t do that again today!!!!! 😀
David
May 9, 2012
The original article follows a very standard approach to supporting the position of the religious right. (It is also used to support conservative positions of all kinds.) You see it frequently. First create a straw man (mis-state the other side’s position) then throw in some false statements. Present both of them in a tone of absolute fact. Make no attempt to document or support those statements. (Use phrases like “it’s is commonly known” or “experts agree”.) Now, tear down those false positions with your religious rhetoric. Be sure to call on “common sense” and “tradition”. Now, claim victory. Sadly, many people are fooled by this tactic and those who use this tactic assume that, somehow, “God” will shield your eyes from the truth and you’ll believe the lies. It’s one of the methods central to Fox News and religious organizations. They use this approach because facts and logic do not support their agenda.
abdel (@abdelxyz)
May 10, 2012
a similar effect arises if you substitute his homosexuality concerns with muslim women and the hijab in a western setting – that was all we heard around the time of the burqa ban and the hijab ban before that.