AmosL
09-03-2006, 01:14 PM
Cobb, Michael. "God Hates Fags: The Rhetoric of Religious Violence"". NYU press, 2006
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
How does the religious violence that surrounds our life style really work? What are the components of it and even more important how can it affect our daily lives? Michael Cobb raises these very important questions and then sets out to answer them in his handbook (as I call it), "God Hates Fags: the Rhetoric of Religious Violence".
None of us are likely to ever forget the brouhaha at the funeral of Matthew Shepard or even some of the demonstrations that have occurred right here in Arkansas at a couple of funerals. There were those ugly placards that read "God Hates Fags" and "Fags die, God laughs". In Laramie, the mourners staged a protest against the protest by initiating "angel action" in which they wore 7 foot high angel wings and created a barrier so that it was impossible to witness those signs.
Cobb explains to us that the discourse of religion has always been excessively anti-gay in the politics and culture of America. It seems as if this discourse is not only pervasive but very, very potent and has damaged our activism and our expression. The time that has been wasted battling it could surely could have been used in more productive areas. We have strategically attempted to respond against; especially in the field of literature but it persists. Some of our greatest authors have railed against it--Tennessee Williams, Stephen Crane, James Baldwin to name a few. Yet somehow the religious right has managed to establish a most rigorous campaign against us.
Michael Cobb knows his subject well. He uses the most up to date research and new and fresh perspectives to provide us with an exciting view of both religion and religious texts and what they do to the gay community. This is a book for everyone who wants to understand the whole matter. It is intelligent and insightful and wonderfully clear. It brings into the area of gay and lesbian studies a topic that has been almost looked over. It is both provocative and original and a welcome addition to the canon of GLBT literature.
Amos Lassen and Literary Pride
How does the religious violence that surrounds our life style really work? What are the components of it and even more important how can it affect our daily lives? Michael Cobb raises these very important questions and then sets out to answer them in his handbook (as I call it), "God Hates Fags: the Rhetoric of Religious Violence".
None of us are likely to ever forget the brouhaha at the funeral of Matthew Shepard or even some of the demonstrations that have occurred right here in Arkansas at a couple of funerals. There were those ugly placards that read "God Hates Fags" and "Fags die, God laughs". In Laramie, the mourners staged a protest against the protest by initiating "angel action" in which they wore 7 foot high angel wings and created a barrier so that it was impossible to witness those signs.
Cobb explains to us that the discourse of religion has always been excessively anti-gay in the politics and culture of America. It seems as if this discourse is not only pervasive but very, very potent and has damaged our activism and our expression. The time that has been wasted battling it could surely could have been used in more productive areas. We have strategically attempted to respond against; especially in the field of literature but it persists. Some of our greatest authors have railed against it--Tennessee Williams, Stephen Crane, James Baldwin to name a few. Yet somehow the religious right has managed to establish a most rigorous campaign against us.
Michael Cobb knows his subject well. He uses the most up to date research and new and fresh perspectives to provide us with an exciting view of both religion and religious texts and what they do to the gay community. This is a book for everyone who wants to understand the whole matter. It is intelligent and insightful and wonderfully clear. It brings into the area of gay and lesbian studies a topic that has been almost looked over. It is both provocative and original and a welcome addition to the canon of GLBT literature.