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Recent discussion surrounding Chick-fil-A and homosexuality got me thinking about another topic related to fast food and religion: gluttony. To some Christians, whether homosexuality is a sin is debatable, but I thought that it was universally agreed among Christians that gluttony is.
America's waistline is ballooning, and I think it's perhaps the biggest problem we face as a nation. It's especially a problem in the Christian community. I found a FoxNews article about this, and it was pretty startling:
"Today it is rare to hear a sermon preached on the stewardship of the physical body and even more rare on the vice of gluttony; it has become a secret and acceptable vice in the modern church. Tables at potlucks strain under the weight of pound cakes, pizza, fried chicken and cheesecake and fellowship is not considered complete without these rich, decadent –and yes addictive foods. The sacred Sunday ritual between services is donuts, bagels and cream cheese, and coffee with cream and sugar.
"Fundamental Christians are by far the heaviest of all religious groups led by the Baptists with a 30% obesity rate compared with Jews at 1%, Buddhists and Hindus at 0.7%."
"A 2001 Pulpit and Pew study of 2,500 clergy found that 76% were overweight or obese"
"A...study tracking 3,433 men and women for 18 years found that young adults who attend church or a bible study once a week are 50% more likely to be obese."
I'm a non-religious homosexual, so I'm curious about this, especially in light of how much anti-gay sentiment comes out of some churches these days. Do churches not preach about gluttony to the extent they do about sexual sins? Do churches not discuss physical well-being and its role in psychological, emotional, and spiritual health?
We've seen a rise in pro-gay groups over the last decade, but we've also seen a rise in pro-fat (or fat-pride) groups over the last decade too. Such groups have even successfully lobbied and gotten weight status added as a protected class to some anti-discrimination statutes. Over the same period, an awful lot of anti-gay groups have popped up and we hear a lot of anti-gay rhetoric coming from fundamentalist churches. In debates about homosexuality, I've heard many Christians say that all sins are equally sinful - personally I've never understood that. Isn't gluttony one of the 7 mortal sins? If anything, isn't gluttony a worse sin than homosexuality? Why haven't we see a corresponding rises in anti-glutton groups or hear similar anti-fat rhetoric coming out of fundamentalist churches?
Chick-fil-A purports to be a business that is dedicated to the teachings and principles of Christianity. Is that really possible for a business that thrives off of and stokes the gluttony of others? Is it really any more moral than a Christian strip club? Is an after services Church buffet supper of high-fat, hyper-salted mountains of food really any less sinful than an after services Church gay-sex orgy?
Last edited by hammertime33; 07-26-2012 at 09:31 PM..
Reason: grammar clean-up
Oh well, the government is going to start taxing more on obese people next if you ask me. Nanny state on steroids with Obama at the helm.
The main gist of this thread was exploring apparent hypocrisy, but to address your question, the small amount of studies on this show that gay men are roughly 40% less likely to be obese than straight men, but gay women are 50% more likely to be obese than straight women.
I have no probable with people that are fat or religious but I do have a problem with people who pick and choose what to condemn from the bible, and all I can say about these lists is holy hypocrisy!!!
Fattest States ('x' denotes appearance on both lists)
1. Mississippi x
2. Alabama x
3. West Virginia x
4. Tennessee x
5. Louisiana x
6. Kentucky x
7. Oklahoma x
8. South Carolina x
9. Arkansas x
10. Michigan
So OP thinks of his being gay as the same as he describes fat christian sins;Uh OK.
No. I was asking why the "sin" of homosexuality gets all the (negative) attention, but the "sin" of gluttony doesn't and is in fact seemly approved of.
Why are obese people often encouraged to pig out at church suppers on communally provided (unhealthy) food, whereas if two gay men got it on in the church restroom, they'd probably never be allowed back?
Must be a lot of gays running around Kenya. Better check the stats. lol
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