I preached against homosexuality, but I was wrong

[xchrom]

http://www.salon.com/life/lgbt/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2011/03/27/presbyterian_minister_changes_mind_about_gays

A recent poll shows a huge shift in American attitudes toward gay marriage, from a 32 percent approval in 2004 to 53 percent today.

I am one of those people who changed their minds.

In 1989 when I was ordained as a minister to serve a small church in North Carolina, homosexuality was an invisible issue. Gay rights were barely on the radar of mainstream churches. The idea of an openly gay pastor was beyond the pale. 
 I knew there were "gay churches," of course, but I did not believe one could be a practicing homosexual and a Christian. The Bible was straightforward on this issue. It all seemed incredibly obvious to me.

[marmar]

1. Good. I hope people are genuinely seeing the light.....

...... arguing with someone with that 'hate the sin, love the sinner' philosophy can be quite frustrating. No matter what logic you present, it all comes back to, 'But the Bible says.....'. In reality, people can somehow get the Bible to say whatever they want to say, to justify all kinds of bigotry.

[dipsydoodle]

2. I once was lost but now I'm found ...

I was blind but now I see .

:hi:

[LAGC]

3. Good.

"Teh gay" is tearing Christian congregations apart. Divided they eventually fall.

There's a reason so many gays are non-Christian, and why the non-Christian crowd is growing at a phenomenal rate world-wide.

The fundies are being marginalized at an incredible rate. Before long, they won't have the numbers to keep getting Republicans elected.

Then maybe we can get a serious second-party like the Greens front and center, instead of Republicans being the only alternative.

[mwb970]

4. In my eyes, religious people are "wrong" about just about everything.

Being horrendously, hurtfully wrong about homosexuality is bad, yes. But today's American "Christians" appear to whole-heartedly endorse the corporate fascist politics of the far, far right, which is tremendously damaging to our country, its democracy, and its citizens.

Remember the poll about "Do you support America torturing prisoners?"? The highest "yes" response at 44% was from evangelical "Christians". The lowest "yes" response at 17% was from atheists. Remember that recent survey about whether religious people know anything about their own religion? The short takeaway: they don't. But guess who does? That's right, it's the atheists again.

"Christian" activists want to post the harsh, punitive, Old-Testament Ten Commandments all over Creation. But why do they never, ever even mention the Sermon On the Mount, containing the peaceful, forgiving words of their supposed Lord and Saviour? All that peace and love probably sounds like liberal hippy crap to them, so it's back to the fire and brimstone and to hell with Jeebus.

America has had success in the past when it kept its religious nuts under control. Now that we are so overrun with them, that is apparently an impossible task.

[Puzzler]

5. Great quote from the author:

"It's easy to condemn homosexuality if you are not gay. It is much harder than condemning pride, or lust or greed ..."

[intaglio]

6. Thanks, n/t

[BobbyBoring]

7. Maybe I'm crazy

But I really don't care what someone else does as long as it doesn't have an adverse on me, my family, or society in general. All of the social "wedge issues" fall in to the mind your own business category. If everyone minded their own business, the world would be a better place IMHO