Religious Left

Many evangelicals speak about gays and lesbians as if they are not present in church or ministry gatherings. The important fact is this: There are no places in evangelicalism–whether over coffee in a university setting or in church in a small southern town–where we can afford to act or speak as if homosexuals are not present. They are, and most of us know this. So we cannot speak and act as if homosexuals aren’t there. Despite the fact that no intelligent person would make the case that heterosexuality is entirely chosen, it is common to say this about homosexuality. The fact is that human sexual attraction is a highly complex mixture of factors and no one, most certainly not a preacher, is going to make authoritative pronouncements on why someone is attracted to the same gender in any situation. A few months before he died, Christian writer Henri Nouwen stated that he was homosexual in orientation, but had always lived in chastity. This honest admission certainly caused some Christian...

As Sally Kern and many others have proven. One only needs preface hateful commits with a denial to make them “acceptable”. My following comments are not a threat. I don’t hate anyone and have nothing but love and compassion for my enemy. There now I’m safe and can say hurtful things about whomever I desire. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that easy? I’ve been getting worried lately, but I worry a lot so maybe it’s no big deal. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve watched how we gays are treated, for a few decades. I only know I am worried about violence. I feel every person has an instinctual “line drawn in the sand”. Once that line is crossed there is no telling what that person is capable of. If you keep pushing and pushing, sooner or later you might reach that line causing the person to react in a way they normally wouldn’t. So after a few decades of seeing the gay community pushed and pushed I must wonder. Will this end up in violence? History is full of examples where the oppressed turned...

(Frankfort, Kentucky) A judge ruled Thursday that Kentucky GOP lawmakers and former Gov. Ernie Fletcher violated the state constitution by appropriating $11 million in state funding to a Baptist university. Kentucky Fairness Alliance executive director Christina Gilgor called the ruling a victory against state-subsidized discrimination. The legality of the grant grew out of a 2006 incident in which the university expelled a student it found out is gay. Jason Johnson, 20, was expelled after posting his sexual orientation on a Web site. The dean's list student received all Fs on his transcript when he was expelled. ( story ) Following public outrage the university agreed to allow Johnson to send in work to finish his courses and receive final grades but he was barred from the campus. full article

"Kill a Queer for Christ" In your small town you probably have not seen that cleverly alliterative bumper sticker. For you and me it is unbelievable, unreal. Sadly, it is very real. The thinking shown in the bumper sticker and the position of many churches and their pastors abets the crimes against gays and lesbians. Peter Gomes, Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard, says, " The combination of ignorance and prejudice under the guise of morality makes the religious community, and its abuse of scripture in this regard, itself morally culpable ." He relates this: In preparing for her novel The Drowning of Stephen Jones, based upon the true story of a young gay man tossed from a bridge to his death by a group of young gay-bashers, author Bette Greene interviewed more than four hundred young men in jail for various forms of gay-bashing. Few of the men, she noted, showed any remorse for their crimes. Few saw anything morally wrong with their crimes, and more than a fe...