June 29, 2014
She Don't Hate Us, She Just Wanna Take Our Rainbow
EDGE READ TIME: 5 MIN.
A singer whose "Rainbow Song" offered a crayon-colored version of theology, says that the song was not intended to disparage gays... just reclaim the rainbow from their embrace.
A June 27 post at gay news site JoeMyGod reported on how Signe Walsoe's rendition of Johnny Noer's "love the sinner" ditty, titled "The Rainbow Belongs to God," drew harsh critiques after it was posted at YouTube. In return, the chanteuse posted the following:
"Addressed to those of you who has left some pretty hateful comments to the Rainbow-song (and to me)! I don't know if your hearts can (wants to) receive this.... however, I wish to bring this statement: NO HATE, WHAT SO EVER, on my part, having shared this message concerning the rainbow! However, it IS the conviction of my heart, that has driven me to shout from the rooftops, that this in fact this IS a serious matter... and whether you believe it or not, I have shared it with LOVE... coz' I love and respect people... people of ALL KIND!"
The "serious" nature of the issue, involving the proper use of the multi-hued phenomenon often seen in the sky during or after rainstorms, derives from a belief among some anti-gay Christians that the rainbow flag, and similar uses of the full-spectrum color scheme by gays, poses an affront to God.
The reason for this lies in Christian mythology, in which the origin of the rainbow is described as God making a covenant with humankind not to destroy the world by water a second time. The Book of Genesis describes a great flood that eradicates life on Earth by submerging all dry land. The only survivors, according to the story, were a man named Noah, his family, and paired specimens of every sort of animal on Earth. These survivors were said to have weathered the catastrophic event by taking refuge aboard an enormous wooden ship that Noah, inspired by God, built in advance of the deluge.
The great flood was the result of forty days and nights of continuous rainfall, the Bible story says. When dry land reappeared, Noah landed the ship and reestablished animal life on the non-aquatic regions of the planet.
There is no account offered for the survival of land-based plant life, and no mention of any greenhouse facilities aboard the wooden ship.
In the flood's aftermath, God promised never again to purge the planet with water, and offered the rainbow as a visible sign of his pledge. Since rainbows are a commonplace phenomenon caused by the refraction of sunlight through suspended water droplets in the atmosphere, Biblical literalists have sought to preserve the tale's credibility by claiming that prior to the forty-day deluge, rain never fell from the sky but rather rose from the ground to sustain crops, animals, and human beings. This explanation sidesteps the question of how optics in pre-diluvian times operated, but contradicts other areas of physics, as well as meteorological science.
Biblical literalists also posit that God's kindly promise to refrain from further planetary dousings carries a sinister undertone.
"And who is the one that dares to doubt God's warning that the next time is fire? Ooooooh, FIRE. Ooooooh, next time is FIIIIRRRREEE!!!" the "Rainbow" song concludes, notes a This is not the first time that faith-based chafing at the use of the rainbow by gays has come to the fore. In 2010, the NOM-affiliated Ruth Institute
As such, declared the founder and president of the Ruth Institute, Jennifer Morse, the rainbow properly belongs not on display in gay Pride parades, but in Sunday schools and churches. Morse made her claims in an article published at anti-gay religious web site OneNewsNow, and dubbed anti-marriage activists who supported California's Proposition 8 as "the original rainbow coalition," despite the term's earlier application to at least eight different specific political entities.
"Proposition 8 was passed by a great grassroots coalition that included people from all across the religious traditions, and also people of every race and color," asserted Morse. "We are the real rainbow coalition. The gay lobby does not own the rainbow."
As tenuous and knotty as such theological and political narratives might be, Walsoe engaged in a round of similarly circuitous, if by-now familiar, justifications for the song's message, claiming to harbor no animus toward gays --just a concern for the well-being of an optical effect and the colors it contains.
"I have precious gay-friends and lesbian-friends whom I LOVE despite the fact that my heart will never be able to agree on their homosexual lifestyle," Walsoe declared. "There is a world of difference between disliking something (a lifestyle) and disliking someone (the person who practice this particular lifestyle)! I have NO HATE in my heart towards any of you who practice a homosexual lifestyle! God bless you!"
The reference to a vague "homosexual lifestyle" is one recited by anti-gay religious figures on a reliably frequent basis. Whether the "lifestyle" in question is one led solely by gays and is therefore substantially dissimilar from the lifestyle of the average heterosexual, or whether the phrase refers to the near-ubiquitous lifestyle of the 21st-century average American, only partaken in by people who happen to be gay, is not clear.
What is certain, however, is the support Walsoe has received from anti-gay American evangelist Scott Lively, who, together with several other American evangelists, traveled to Uganda shortly before the introduction of the notorious "Kill the Gays" bill in that nation. The evangelists led an anti-gay rally that may have led directly to the bill's introduction by Ugandan lawmaker David Bahati, who himself has ties to American anti-gay evangelical groups. After years of heated controversy, a watered-down version of the bill finally became law.
Lively has also reportedly had a hand in recent draconian anti-gay laws in Russia and other former Soviet nations.
"You will be blessed by this amazing song 'The Rainbow Belongs to God,' " Lively posted at Scott Lovely Ministries on June 24. "It was written my friend Johny Noer, a Danish pastor living in the Negev Desert of Israel, and performed by the very talented singer/composer Signe Walsoe.
"Johny was an attendee and guest lecturer at my Bible seminar in England last fall and was inspired by my article/strategy 'The Rainbow Belongs to God' which I created to encourage the Russians to reclaim the rainbow as a Christian symbol during the Winter Olympics," Lively added. "This beautiful music video is a fruit of our ministry partnership and I encourage you to forward it to your pro-family friends around the world."
Lively is the author of a book that claims to give parents tools to "gay-proof" their children, and another book that attempts to place blame for the Nazi holocaust at the feet of gays, despite the persecution of gays in Germany under the Nazis and for decades after World War II.
Lively has been named in a legal proceeding that claims he is guilty of crimes against humanity for his role in promoting anti-gay laws in Uganda.
Access to the YouTube video is now restricted, following online pushback.
