A Step in Faith
Evangelical Christian Brent Childers explains his journey from believing that homosexuality was an abomination to marching in a pro-gay march on Washington.
I found this at Newsweek. Maybe there is some hope. Just don’t read the comments, there are still a lot of idiots out there.
I’m not surprised this article and Brent Childers has gotten such a strong reaction from the Evangelicals and I am not surprised that the GLBT community has opened their arms to him. I’m surprised that more people are stepping forward and admitting that they have realized the same thing as Childers, that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered folks are just like everyone else.
I especially love this comment:
Posted By: SeperationofchurchandState @ 10/09/2009 11:39:55 AMAmerica is a secular country. The foundation of our country is seperation of church and state. Marraige is a civil liberty, a right of every taxpayer, that some choose to have acknowledged within their religious communities. Anyone who thinks they have the right to say “My group deserves these rights, your group does not.” does not deserve to call themselves an American citizen. Religious beliefs of some do not justify the persecution of others. Jehova’s Witnesses believe it’s sinful to celebrate birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, etc. Should we eliminate the rights of others to celebrate those events based upon one group’s beliefs? If you want to live in a country where the rights of some are non-existant while others enjoy the full extent of rights available according to a religious doctrine, there are plenty of other countries run that way. Feel free to become a citizen of one of them – if they’ll have you and if you’re prepared to be one of the people who loses their rights.
If one Evangelical can see the light then there is no reason that the rest of them can’t eventually have reason and logic overcome their fear. It’s a start.
Like you say, it's one among the many, but maybe it will start a trend.
That's encouraging! And yes, that's a great comment about it..
And people like you who blog about it, are helping too of course!
I think it's all about fear, and the more that can be done to allay people's fears, rather than reinforce them, the better. If we can demonstrate that there is nothing to be scared of, no matter what issue we're addressing, I think we've got the start of progress. Fear is such a factor in so many people's decisions and opinions about things.
Bigg, Now that Obama has all this on his radar I think (hope) things will start changing faster.
Chandira, You cannot love what you fear and you cannot fear what you love. I don't get why people would be fearful but fear of the unknown is a powerful thing. Thanks for reading and commenting.
The numbers of ex evangelicals who are becoming more open-minded towards the gay community is growing, but I'm a little skeptical as to whether it'll start a new trend.
I think many might begin to, but as this happens, then the evangelical community will just become more and more divided. The ones on the other side of the divide will become more aggressive and militant, and who knows where that'll take us as a nation.
I'm hopeful, though. This is a great start
Zealots are generally humorless people,no matter what they espouse.. I mind my own business on these things, but support decent treatment of all people, who respect me, as I respect them. I've said before, my Ethics are impeccable, but my Morals need some work!
A lot of idiots out there indeed. One of these days soon, we'll have the true equality our nation needs and wants, and gays will be able to marry just like the heteros. Keep the faith.