A Piano Should Fall on His Head

It’s been a while since I’ve given out one of my pianos, not because there are fewer assholes in the world, but because I’ve been too busy to bother with them. However, the following little tidbit caught my eye this morning, and when I read about the pastor in question, my first thought was, “a piano should fall on his head.”



It seems that the Reverend Vincent Fields, pastor of Greater Works Ministries in Absecon, New Jersey, used his invocation yesterday morning before the start of New Jersey’s Senate session to engage in some good old fashioned gay bashing. “We curse the spirit that would come to bring about same-sex marriage,” Fields prayed as the senators bowed their heads.

Last week, the New Jersey legislature chose to draft a civil unions bill for same-sex couples in response to an October decision by the state’s highest court, which held that same-sex couples cannot be denied marriage rights. In its decision the court stipulated, however, that it was up to the legislature whether to call the unions “marriages” or something else. The legislature chose something else.

Notwithstanding the New Jersey legislature’s decision to forego same-sex marriage, Reverend Fields felt the need to call upon his wrathful god to curse “the spirit” of same-sex marriage. What spirit is that, exactly? The spirit of tolerance? The spirit of equality? The spirit of inclusion? The spirit of justice? It seems to me that these are the very principles for which (the Historical) Jesus stood.

If the spirit of Jesus can be said to exist today, it is to be found in movements for social justice, just like the movement for equal marriage. If Fields curses that spirit, then he is cursing the spirit of Jesus. I guess that would make him the anti-Christ.

More importantly, I wonder why Fields felt it was appropriate to use an invocation to endorse his own particular brand of religious bigotry. In case you were wondering, that was a rhetorical question to which I already know the answer. The answer is that fundamentalists like Fields have no sense of propriety when it comes to politics. They mix politics and religion like Ted Haggard mixed gay sexcapades and crystal meth.

Reverend Fields is free to invoke from his hellish pulpit a curse upon whatever spirit deemed the enemy du jour by his blackened, hate-filled heart. What he may not do, however, is take advantage of an invitation to make what was supposed to be a non-sectarian invocation in order to champion his personal religious views within the halls of government.

Another piano should fall on the head of whatever imbecile invited Fields to make the invocation in the first place. Perhaps it’s time to rethink the whole invocation before a legislative session thing, no?