Scott

Scott McQueen’s last blog post..Just You & I

So glad it doesn’t!

Now, we are moving on…

Mandy’s last blog post..Catching Up

No worries. It was getting late and I was probably reading more into your comments than I should have.

Tony

BentonQuest’s last blog post..Are You Going To Answer The Door?

Why would a gay couple want to get married in a church that didn’t condone their “lifestyle”? I don’t know, probably for the same reasons that some black people wanted to use the white drinking fountain or go to white schools or ride at the front of the bus. It’s sort of silly when they have perfectly good ones of their own but who can account for what people want these days?

Why on earth would you go to a party with gay people there? And if you were there why would you mention to anyone that you don’t condone their lifestyle. That would be rude. Furthermore why would you watch tv programs? Most are created on some level by a gay person. What about groceries? I’m sure there is a gay person working at the store, in packaging, development, CEO of General Mills (I don’t know this but am making a point)? Do you stop buying gas from a specific station because the owner is gay? You are right it is a slippery slope.

There is no equality/freedom unless it is granted to all.

My father hid his homosexuality for years and years. It nearly destroyed our family. Why would you want anyone to go through that? I know of a man right now who is an upstanding christian, husband and father. He also happens to be gay. His family doesn’t know about this yet but eventually the truth will come out. I understand why he hides it but it seems very sad that he has to. He is more likely to acquire SDT’s because he is in denial. He is them likely to pass it on to his wife which will cause further stress. He is miserable and cannot understand why god would do this to him. He has tried to stop being a homosexual, it doesn’t work. He feels constant stress and guilt for something he has no control over and god doesn’t seem to think it needs to be controlled since he has done nothing to change it.

I mean no disrespect to you, please understand that. You seem to be a reasonable guy. When you say that your faith does not condone a certain lifelstyle it worries me.

Frankly the christians that you appear to be a part of, the fundamentalists, scare the crap out of me. They are no less dangerous than the guys flying planes into our buildings. They have just as much hate and fear, which is probably the cause of their hate as these people.

Jen’s last blog post..Best of Me 2008

However I do believe they ought to pay taxes if they are going to be a members only club which is what they would become if they choose not to perform ceremonies.

I don’t understand why a church should be taxed because their beliefs don’t support gay marriage. This is the fear I’m talking about with religious freedom at risk on issues like this. Why would a gay couple want to be married in a church that did not believe in gay marriages anyway? Shouldn’t they just go to a church that does? Why stop at marriages? Why not say a church is no longer tax exempt if they don’t believe anything the state says they should? It’s a very slippery slope here. It leads to my fear that the gay marriage issue can lead to much bigger things that may start to impede on my rights.

You can’t legislate bigotry. I’m actually against “hate crime” laws. Anyone who harms another person has hate.

I agree. When I talked about legislating against bigotry what I mean is that it should be against the law, not just hurting others, but even if they are physically threatened without actually being hurt. Nobody should have to live in fear of who they are or what they believe. However, labeling some crimes as hate crimes and some as not does not make sense. Someone that does the crime you describe above should be locked up for good (at a minimum), you should not need a “hate crime” designation to do that.

You don’t get pulled from your car and beaten and raped because you have the little fish emblem on your car. But people who have a rainbow sticker do.

Christians are killed all over the world for their beliefs and just for being Christian - way more than the extreme cases of homosexuals being assaulted in this country.

I also think African Americans face way more discrimination than gays. If your gay you can hide it, if you’re black you can’t.

My family knows that we are going to have to deal with prejudice once we have our new son. We’re going to have to teach and explain to him why some people will not like him or us because he is black.

There is also a more subtle discrimination against Christians. Think about the teenage Christian that wants to live free of drugs, alcohol, and sex in high school. They are not exactly going to be able to hang out with the cool crowd anymore than the gay guy.

Christians are not discriminated against unless they live out their faith. Then we are…(sound similar to being gay).

We homeschool our children because we believe we can give them a better education than what is offered in public schools. We are fortunate that we live in Texas. In other states (like CA), this right is in jeopardy.

Here’s a question - If I was at a party that included your gay and lesbian friends and I said that my faith does not allow me to condone a gay lifestyle - what would they think of me? Would their reaction be different if I said my faith does not allow me to condone the worship of Allah?

If they are not Muslim, they’d probably be indifferent about my statement about Allah but because they are gay, they would probably be offended at my comment about the gay lifestyle. This is understandable but aren’t my views being discriminated against?

Here’s an example where I think you may see my point that Christianity is not as discrimination free as you think… Gay proponents probably believe that the gay lifestyle should be presented as a normal alternative lifestyle in health classes or wherever this type of topic may be discussed in school nowadays. How many schools will allow Intelligent Design to be taught as an alternative to Evolution? In spite of the fact that plenty of scientist have lots of problems with the Evolution theory, ID is forbidden as an alternative theory in many schools. If you do not believe in Evolution, you’re not “normal” and your just a religious extremist.

I’m kind of rambling here. I guess what I am trying to say is that it is not easy living out your Christian faith in America today. I agree it’s probably easier than living an openly gay lifestyle, but as you say, the tide is turning.

While you are comforted that it is getting better for the gay community, I am worried about it getting worse for those that try to live out a Christian faith.