Religious Discrimination or Homophobia?

Eric Holyfield is a sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department.  He is also a minister, and in those combined roles he was asked to give a eulogy at the funeral of a fellow officer.  Clad in his ministerial garb, he gave his sermon, including indicating that gays would go to hell.  This was in 2006.  In June 2008 he filed suit against the LAPD and the city stating that he has been passed up for promotions and raises because of his speech, which means that he is being discriminated against because of his religious views (his opinion, not mine).  You can read the article from the Los Angeles Times by following this link: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-holyfield3-2008jul03,0,6800842.story

This story brings up many questions for me, but the first is, why were these remarks being made at a funeral?  Was the deceased gay?  If so, it would hardly be comforting to the mourners to be told their loved one is going to hell.  If not, then why bring up gay issues at all at his funeral?  Was he killed by a gang of murderous gays?  I've never heard of such things, but in Los Angeles I suppose anything is possible.  Speaking from a personal perspective, I'm fairly certain that any gang of gays (which I think would properly be called either a "gaggle of gays" or a "pride of gays") who I know would not be interested in killing anyone, but might help them with their hair and clothing.  God knows we need the fashion police in this town.

But back to the funeral.  Barring the deceased himself being gay, or being killed by gays, what possible motive is there for mentioning homosexuality at a funeral?  A funeral is a time of high emotions, and I can only think that Holyfield was using this as an opportunity to enforce his own personal bias, and therefore what he engaged in is hate speech, which is illegal in this state.  It seems to me that the LAPD should have done more than just file a complaint against him; they should have arrested him and charged him with a hate crime.

According to the article, Holyfield quoted the Bible as saying, "men should not lie with men; women should not lie with women. To do so was an abomination or sinful; one must repent or be condemned to hell."  The article does not give any indication of what denomination Holyfield is, nor of where he studied to become a pastor.  For that matter, it doesn't give any details about whether he was ever ordained, but I have to question his educational background when he claims to quote the Bible and makes up passages.

What Mr. Holyfield is misquoting is Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.  According to the Tanakh, these passages read, "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abhorrence."  And, "If a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman, the two of them have done an abhorrent thing; they shall be put to death -- their blood-guilt is upon them."

Notice that these passages do not say that women should not lie with women.  Mr. Holyfield made that up, which means he lied about what the Bible says.  What kind of pastor lies about the scriptures?

Also, as an educated, ordained minister, I would expect Mr. Holyfield to understand that these passages are an interpretation of the scriptures, and not a translation.  If you translate the first passage directly from the Hebrew into English, it says, "With a male you shall not lie the lyings of a woman."  That is not the same thing as saying two men shall not lie together.

Mr. Holyfield should also realize that this passage is taken from a section known as the Holiness Code.  In this section the people of Israel are God's chosen people, and they are being told to follow a path provided by God, and not one that other people followed (specifically the Egyptians and Canaanites in this passage).  These rules are meant to set the people apart in their religious beliefs and practices.  It does not condemn homogenital sex in itself, but as a religious prohibition.  For Mr. Holyfield to follow this he would have to follow all of Leviticus.  For example, Leviticus 19:19 says "You shall not put on cloth from a mixture of two kinds of materials."  I've never met Mr. Holyfield, but I'll bet he's worn polyester/cotton blend clothing in his lifetime.  Probably at the funeral.

Leviticus 19:27 says, "You shall not round off the side-growth on your head, or destroy the side-growth of your beard."  To me that just looks unkempt, but it's God's law, so Mr. Holyfield must follow it.  The article doesn't contain a picture of him, but I'll see if I can find one and post it.  I'm sure his sideburns must reach the floor by now.

There are more.  Leviticus is full of prohibitions and requirements, but the point is, if you claim that one must be followed then you must follow all of them.  This book was written thousands of years ago, and we don't follow these teachings any longer, so for Mr. Holyfield to state that we must indicates to me that his education is extremely limited.

One further point, the original passage that I quoted claims that this act is an abomination.  Leviticus 20:25-26 indicates that abomination is another way of saying "unclean."  This was seen as an unclean act.  The reason they would be put to death is because they committed a religious offense against God, however many of the other acts don't have the same punishment.  This has lead many scholars to believe that the correct translation ("With a male you shall not lie the lyings of a woman") is intended to refer to temple prostitutes (yes, they existed in the early days of Judaism), and therefore the prohibition was against sexual relations that were conducted within the temple.  As such, homosexuality is not being condemned at all, but ritualistic sexual acts that are conducted more for eroticism than ritual are being condemned.  

I wonder if Mr. Holyfield included that in his eulogy.