Reply #6: Thank You. [View All]

[RetiredTrotskyite]

This is the reply I got addressed specifically to me. :eyes:

To MerlynLights:

I am very sorry that Christians have wronged you in the past. That is the only reason I can think of to account for your extreme distaste for them, since that is the only kind of religious people you refer to. I will not deny that Christians have messed up tremendously in how they treat other people when their beliefs do not coincide with that of Christians. I know my apology will not count for much, if at all to you, but I am truly sorry for the harm that has been done/said to you. You don't deserve it. I am a Christian, and I believe in the Bible, but more than believing in the passages that go against your lifestyle I also believe in loving people regardless of race, creed or way of life. Jesus loves all people, so I try to do the same. I am human of course, and am completely imperfect. I can't even begin to tell of the many, many mistakes I have made. But I try my best, and that's all I can do.

I have a friend who is gay, and he knows my religious beliefs and convictions. We do not let our differences hinder our friendship. I do not condemn him for the men he loves, and he does not condemn me for believing his lifestyle is wrong. We simply do not discuss it. I do not love the sins of people, but the people themsevles. Just as if you should catch your son stealing from you or find out your 16 year old daughter is pregnant--you are not happy with the choices and ultimate consequences, but does that mean you stop caring for them and loving them? Of course not. I wish more Christians had that mentality. We can disagree all we want, but people are going to believe what they want to believe and we should not hate anyone for that. We should all get along as best we can. Life is too short to keep hating each other just because we disagree.


And this was my answer:
Hi, Heather678.
This is not about whether or not Christians have wronged me. I thank you for the apology since the religious right (of which the overwhelming percentage are Christians) rarely apologizes for the hatred it spews.
I submit that your friend says nothing about the truth of his life because he knows your opinion on the subject, I am certain. Have you even considered the comment above: “I have a friend who is gay, and he knows my religious beliefs and convictions. We do not let our differences hinder our friendship. I do not condemn him for the men he loves, and he does not condemn me for believing his lifestyle is wrong. We simply do not discuss it.” Any discussion of what might be going on in his life or what is really important to him might, indeed more than likely would, disturb YOUR comfort zone. I submit this attitude is arrogance. You are not truly interested in what really goes on in your friend’s life—his loves, his hurts, etc.—you only want to hear what makes YOU comfortable. Your friend has been more than likely hurt many time by religious condemnation and doesn’t try to make you see how arrogant your view really is. Thank the Goddess that I have friends who truly love me for myself and are interested in what is really going on in my life, just as I love them for who they are and want to know what is really happening in their life.
I did NOT “choose” to be gay—it is no more a “lifestyle choice” than your being heterosexual is. I take offense at your comparing gay people to an unwed teen mother. She had the choice to abstain from sex or not. I have that choice in the religious right view and I had better make the choice to abstain or I will be damned. Well, I made a choice to share my life with a wonderful man whom I love and who married me in Canada because he wanted us to be married legally, Just as you are heterosexual and have a choice to marry and be with someone you love, so I am gay and have a choice to marry and to be with the man that I love. Actually, it is our right. You have a right to be happy and so do I. By your lights, though, I should settle for a cold, lonely life alone.
One of the reasons we chose to legally marry in Canada is because we saw no sense in marrying in a country where, even when LGBTQ people ARE given the right to marry, they can expect endless challenges to that right. How would YOU feel if you were not able to legally marry the person you love?
I keep reading posts which simply ooze entitlement and arrogance such as one which suggests that anyone who doesn’t fit the religious right’s definition of marriage will have to settle for less. NO, WE DO NOT! Neither do you. I won’t tell you how to live your life, and you do the same where I am concerned. It’s called tolerance.