Eden Richman Week 3 - "Your God" by Rudy Francisco
The poem "Your God" by Rudy Francisco expresses Francisco's anger at the types of people who use God as a defense for being homophobic. Also annoyed at people who hide behind God and are racist or antisemitic.
He starts off the poem by saying that the poem is meant for the type of person described above. He says "I've never seen, exactly who it is that you paperclip your knees, meld your hands together and pray to, but I think I know what he looks like. Francisco then goes on to describe a stereotypical racist hillbilly from the south. He describes this type of God because this is what homophobic people usually look like and act. "I bet your god has a mullet I bet he wears flannel shirts with no sleeves, a fanny pack, and says words like geturdun" He talks about what this person's god's school must have been like, his temper, his alcoholism, his sexism. The end of the poem says "sooner or later you will realize you are worshipping your own shadow... so next time you bend your knees and bow your head, tell your god that my god is looking for him"
This poem isn't just a message to homophobes, but to all people. He focuses on these types of people and describes them because he has been personally hurt by them, but the point he's making is that everyone's god is different. No matter what the god that you pray to will always agree with your opinion because if he can't tell us if he agrees or disagrees he must agree right? We should always look for a reason to form our opinions and not to God because your god is only a reflection of who you are.
Hey Eden!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your poet’s argument that hiding behind G-d to express homophobic, racist, or sexist views is wrong. Additionally, I disagree with the argument that everyone has their “own” G-d and that G-d is only a reflection of who we are as humans. I believe there is only one G-d and rather everyone interprets his laws differently, some more religiously than others. Also, G-d is not a reflection of who we are, but instead we are a reflection of what G-d is as every man was made in the image of G-d. Finally, many people believe being homosexual is sinful simply because it says so in the bible and I believe that they have the right to that opinion, although acting in a homophobic or prejudiced ways against homosexuals is certainly wrong and sinful.
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DeleteHi Ethan, while I see your point of view, the position you give is inherently misinformed. In Leviticus 18:23 it says "וְאֶ֨ת־זָכָ֔ר לֹ֥א תִשְׁכַּ֖ב מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י אִשָּׁ֑ה תּוֹעֵבָ֖ה הִֽוא" Which has come to now mean "Do not lie with a male as one lies with a woman; it is an abhorrence." But this is a far cry from its intended translation. The word מִשְׁכְּבֵ֣י is only used one other time in talking about Reubens incestuous relationship with the maid (Bilhah) with whom his father had fathered children. Furthermore the word זָכָ֔ר in modern Hebrew may mean "man" or "male," but in biblical Hebrew it is used as a term to describe a male who is not yet of marrying age. So we can take this to mean that the passage prohibiting incestuous relations with ones own kin and not homosexuality.
Delete*Edit: Fixed typo
Hi Jacob, I disagree with your interpretation of the pasuk and would say that I agree more with the Ramban the Ibn Ezra and a large group of some of the greatest and wisest rabbis in the history of Judaism. How Judaism works is that we look to the rabbis for their interpretations of the Torah, and halchah is based on that. And some of the most well known books that discuss halacha such as the Aruch HaShulchan, Mishnah Torah, and Sefer HaChinuch all say that this pasuk is referring to the action of homosexuality and go into much more depth on it if you would like to read that. Although the act of homosexuality is a sin, everyone does sin in their lives and for some people this is a very hard act to control.
DeleteHi Eden. I thought that this was an interesting poem with an interesting message. The message of how bad it is serving G-d and forcing your opinions into that of G-d I think is a good message because I believe that G-d is not supposed to be an image of us, but we are supposed to be an image of G-d, and that is a really strong idea. There are plenty of parts in the poem that I don't agree with, but just to keep this brief, I will say that being hateful to gay people is wrong, and I think that is what the author is talking about, but saying that according to the Torah, being gay is a sin is not wrong, but again, I don't think that is what the author is talking about.
ReplyDeleteHi Eden, I really enjoyed this poem and the sensitive issue it encompasses, as well as your delicate analysis of it. I for one agree with you and the main point of this poem. I've been very involved with Judaism and religion my entire life, so I've been with multiple people who use God as a reason to hide behind their hateful thoughts, whether that be homophobia, racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc. A lot of the people who do this, I've realized hide behind many of their own insecurities and project their own internalized issues onto other people who don't deserve it.
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