Some alleged Christians would have us believe that AIDS is evidence of God’s right hand on earth.

This theory has always struck me as bizarre. What kind of God would exact so cruel and final a punishment for an act that is consensual and expressive of one human being’s affection for another? Even if that act were, as some charge, “unnatural?”

Why would God go out of His way to create a new disease, targeting homosexuals, while sparing murderers, child abusers, fascist dictators and Howard Stern?

Clearly, the latter are more explicitly responsible for human suffering, unlike two people quietly humping in the privacy of their own bedroom, then sharing a pizza.

It simply doesn’t seem likely that God would be as preoccupied with homosexuality as the average Christian fundamentalist. Why would He be?

God is not homophobic. That distinguishes Him, I dare say, from His self-proclaimed “ambassadors” on earth. Homosexuality seems to be their favorite topic. Not Compassion. Not Charity. Not Mercy.

Sex. They’re very alarmed about “unnatural” sex.

Fundamentalists have learned that careers are made and congregations built with fiery sermons about “deviant” sex. They go out of their way to highlight passages in the Bible that support their personal opinions and political agendas.

These are often very ambitious men.

Christian scholars (you’ll notice they make fewer TV appearances) remind us that the Bible is a very complex work. They point out that anyone using selected excerpts from the Bible can support a variety of viewpoints, many of which are contradictory.

The Bible is best understood through its overarching themes rather than by taking certain verses out of context.

It can safely be said that the overarching themes of the New Testament are love, forgiveness and compassion.

The vast majority of Jesus’ words had nothing to do with the condemnation of homosexual acts. WWJC (Why Would Jesus Care)?

So far as the Old Testament is concerned, nowhere in the first great code of God’s law, the Ten Commandments, is there any mention of homosexuality.

While it is mentioned in the text, it is often in the company of other lofty edicts concerning the consumption of shellfish, the proper treatment of your “Hebrew slave” and the sanctioning of the death penalty for whomever “presumes to disobey the priest.”

Apparently, some of our fundamentalist friends are nostalgic for the good old days.

In their often lurid diatribes, God’s “faithful” denounce homosexuality as a crime against God and nature. Close examination of the Bible refutes the former notion. Close examination of nature refutes the latter.

The occurrence of homosexual behavior in nature is well documented.

Examples of such behavior can be found in many animals, from the orangutan to the star-nosed mole.

In one of humanity’s closest genetic relatives, the bonobo (misidentified for years as small chimpanzees) homosexuality plays a leading role in their social order and culture. The natives of areas populated by bonobos have observed this behavior for generations. Now, modern anthropologists are watching too.

In settling internal disputes, easing tension and paving the way for good, friendly relations with neighboring groups, bonobo leaders engage in, well… good, friendly relations, often (and customarily) with members of the same sex.

African natives refer to the act as “hoka hoka.”

Pat Robertson would call it “sin.”

In church, I was taught a song whose lyrics contained the words, “and you’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

I believe that by that standard many Christian fundamentalists today have made themselves unrecognizable as Christians.

You are not known by your love, but by your aggressive proselytizing. You conduct yourselves like an army, waging war on an ideological terrain.

In recruiting, you prey on the displaced young members of our community, offering them an inflated sense of righteousness and a feeling of belonging.

You feed off people’s ignorance and fear by maligning an already misunderstood minority.

This gives you far more in common with Hitler than Christ.

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James O’Donnell is a graduate student in painting, drawing and printmaking, from Mesa, Ariz.