Llias's Blog

In the past year, all of us have lived through some of the most tense moments of American history. Tensions rose, arguments abounded, and people fought both verbally and physically to defend what they believed in. Somewhere along the line, we as a society have collectively failed to work out our grievances and issues in ways that would not end up with people at each others' throats. Recently I was introduced to this video, a TED talk given in 2017 by Megan Phelps-Roper, a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church. For anyone who does not recognize that name, consider yourself lucky. To put it lightly, they are a vile extremist cult from Topeka, Kansas who devote their lives to condemning the outside world to hell, particularly the lgbtq+ community. She talks about how she was raised to believe that the outside world was evil, and that her church was righteous. However, when she took her message to Twitter, a few people were willing to engage her in civil debate that ended with h...

This song needs no introduction. Hozier's "Take Me To Church" is widely regarded as a musical masterpiece not only because it is simply a great song, but also for the powerful message that Hozier wove into its lyrics and music video. The song is a condemnation of Christianity's hypocritical crusade against homosexuality, highlighting how the church is often a source of shame and persecution for lgbtq+ people. This message hits pretty close to home for me because for a long time, I was a part of that persecution. Not that I was going around actively seeking out and hurting lgbt people, but I believed in the idea that being gay was a sin and that lgbt+ people were inherently "wrong", just because that was what my parents believed, and what I was taught through the church and through my parents. I'm still a Christian now, but I've come to realize that what I was told about the lgbtq+ community was wrong. How I came to that conclusion is a story for anot...