Why we should not paint Christians with a broad brush.

[eirias]

Real Live Preacher has some beautiful words about homosexuality and the larger Christian message.

The Salty Vicar writes about homosexuality too. He also writes thoughtfully about the changing economics of sex and how the vast economic changes in the world must affect our interpretation of Scripture.

If I had been exposed to these people when I was younger, I might still be a Christian. I would probably not, however, still be a Catholic.

Comments

[eirias.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't like basing public policy on religion, either! I think it's shameful that people try, and moving public policy debates away from religion is absolutely the right thing to do. But the reason that we need public policy debates on the topic in the first place is that many people, deep down, believe that homosexual activity is bad - and I'd like to see this change. I'd like to see our cultural rift flatten out - this kind of diversity, the kind that polarizes into a culture war, is the bad kind, you know? And I like it when people make the attempt to bridge that gap, to show people on one side where they might be wrong about something.

I have to admit, though, that as is the case with Salty, the issue is settled for me, as it may be settled for other people. I can't fathom how anyone could possibly convince me that homosexuality is immoral; and so perhaps it's folly to think that people like Real Live Preacher are going to have any luck. Ahh, well. I can hope.

The catch...

[roamin-umpire.livejournal.com]

... is that many folks don't want to disentangle public policy from religion. In fact, they want morality (and specifically their morality, which is based on their religion) to guide and inform public policy.

Come to think of it, I don't want the country passing immoral laws, either. It's just that my idea of what's moral and what's immoral matches up much better with, say, yours than it does with "theirs."