Published 16.6.16 – News Corps The Advertiser:
Response to Column by Tory Shepherd:
Dear Letters Editor,
Tory Shepherd’s column (The Advertiser, 15/6/16) — about the Orlando massacre of gays — was correct on all counts, except one.
Omar Mateen was clearly homophobic, racist, and an Islamic terrorist but the point that gets consistently ignored is that he was also devoutly religious.
Shepherd refers obliquely to Family First Senate candidate, Peter Madden, who used Orlando to tweet a reminder of the “real & present dangers” of gay marriage.
The internet is alive with similar rants about “God’s punishment of gays.”
It’s religion that links Mateen and Madden. Islam and Christianity. Show me one homophobic atheist and I’ll show you one hundred homophobic people who believe in a divine God.
The upcoming plebiscite on marriage equality will showcase their biblical intolerance of gays.
Inescapably, it is the Old Testament — or more correctly, the Hebrew Scriptures — that directly links all three Abrahamic religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Brian Morris
Plain Reason: promoting science, reason and critical thinking.