thoughts about aware

I've been reading Kurt Vonnegut's extremely short and engaging semi-autobiographical musings A Man without a Country, and lots of things he mentioned struck me. Particularly these: 

• "I say of Jesus, as all humanists do, 'If what he said is good, and so much of it is absolutely beautiful, what does it matter if he was God or not?'"
• "For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that's Moses, not Jesus. I've never heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere."

And for those who don't know, or need reminding, here are the Beatitudes (from Matthew 5:3-5:10)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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It's struck me, too, that few people have looked at the unfortunate events at AWARE from a Christian perspective. I'm eminently unqualified in this, not being a Christian myself. But on the other hand, I've always thought that it's far better to be Christian at heart and in spirit than to be a self-righteous, lecturing Pharisee – a small-c christian rather than a capital-C Christian, if you will. 

And it strikes me that looking at the Beatitudes (Matthew 5-7 and Luke 6:17-6:49) that these capital-C Christian women trumpeting their "pro-family" "feminist" agenda have missed the mark.

The old AWARE was about empowering women – including lesbian women – and this, among other things, means tolerance and acceptance, even love in the agape sense. It was very much about comforting the persecuted, downtrodden and neglected members of society. It was much closer to the spirit of the Beatitudes than anything I've heard from or about the "new guard".

It seems to me that in their zeal they've forgotten about the meek and the persecuted and the peacemakers. In their urge to change locks, hold press conferences and generally drag the good work of the old members of AWARE in the mud, they've actually lost sight of the central message of their own religion – that their God is a God of love.

Shame on Thio Su-Mien, a very un-christian Christian. She and her ilk disgust me.