Thanks for sharing your 2¢; hopefully you’ll respect mine.

trying to show that not all churches are bigots

I stand by my emotions. I stand by what I said. I stand by the fact that this election and the issues in this election had everyone screaming and yelling.

I have not changed how I feel about the subject. I would change how I said it outloud. The message would remain the same.

I think there are those truly using religion as a legitimate reason for THEIR OWN beliefs and I think there are those truly using it for evil. Bigoted, homophobic, evil.

Oh, and next time. Feel free to leave your blog link or an email, as is common place when commenting.

I’m sorry, who’s the pussy?

That is wrong. Does the government now force Jewish temples to marry Catholics? How about Baptists being held at gunpoint to marry satanists? If the church’s charter or Articles of Faith express a belief, then the government has to abide by it. The only time the government can get involved and have any say in a church, is if it gives them an economic benefit, like subsidized school lunches for a christain school. This same principle is also applied to religious adoption agencies as well. Now several churches may want you to believe that we will march right into their doors and demand these things, but I seriously doubt that we could if we wanted to. As stated before, there are plenty of gay friendly churches/venues that will allow us to marry there.

No, not wrong. There have already been cases where homosexuals have sued because they were denied use of a church building that is leased out for heterosexuals. There have already been Christian adoption agencies close their doors because the state in which they operate now recognizes gay marriage and they were told they must give gay couples equal consideration.

The stunt pulled a couple weeks ago by gay activists invading a church in Michigan during services and acting like utter fools does not help your cause one bit. And they were marching right into the doors and disrupting services, yelling “Jesus was gay”, shouting other obscenities and blasphemies, throwing condoms, simulating sodomy, and so on. So your claim that homosexuals won’t do that is quite mistaken.

Once the activists left the church, the members then sat down and prayed for them. {sarcasm}What horrid Christians they are!{/sarcasm}

Are we anti-government?
As a conservative libertarian, I am not anti-government, I am pro small government.

*buzzz* Wrong answer, but thanks for trying. Myrshena, you need to read the whole Wikipedia article before you choose what you want. Yes the term “Seperation of Church and State” was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists. However, the First Amendment states: ” Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Wikipedia? Get a grip. Your snotty attempt at superior intelligence fails, especially since your spelling is atrocious and you have not yet mastered the Spell Check function.

The part of the amendment that addresses religion basically means that there will not be any government established church such as the Church of England and that people may worship as they wish.

Uhhh… earlier you said we don’t have a seperation of church and… oh never mind. Read the Wikipedia arcticle again,

No, I said there is nothing in the Constitution about separation of church and state. Your feeble attempts at twisting my words fails as well. I think you are the one who needs to read again what I actually wrote.

I am too, like the fact that I cannot marry the woman I love, but my marriage to a man who turned into a nightmare sailed right through? Like the fact that a few hateful people want to impose their outdated, anti-christain, (yes, anti christain!) views on the public, and we are to just stand by meekly while that happens. Yup those same double standards?

Believing homosexuality is a sin is not anti-Christian. Treating homosexuals hatefully is. As Christians we are to hate the sin, not the sinner. And yes Yeshua would have be forgiving – for those who go forth and sin no more, not to those who continue to live a life of sin.

Gay marriage does not interfere with church matters. If you look into all aspects, both pro and con, then you will see better how your argument stands. Lets all look at this with a clear head and heart. Research before you judge, and don’t condemn those that cannot reason. We need to find an amicable way. But only through the flow of free thought and discussion will this take place.

I have done quite a bit of research, actually and obviously more than you. I am more aware of what is being pushed and what isn’t. Just because you do not agree with my conclusions and are unaware of what people pushing the homosexual agenda actually do does not mean I didn’t do any research.

Since you are a homosexual, I suggest you actually research what is being done and said in your name. Any kind of extremist is counterproductive, whether they be Christian or homosexual. Condemn the extremists who make it harder for you.

And, as an atheist or as a homosexual, if you wanted to have a ceremony, you should be able to have any kind of ceremony you wish in this free country and call it whatever you want, including “marriage.” But from a legal perspective, call it something else to avoid all these “issues” we are seeing.

Fact is, so long as “marriage” is in the law, someone has to have their views compromised no matter which way the chips fall.

The fact of the matter is that marriage is not just a religious institution. It is also a legal contract. Perhaps what we ought to do is separate these ideas and invent a new term to refer to the legal contract uniting two individuals together. You can get married in your church, but to obtain the legal benefits from a lifetime commitment couples must then apply for a “couple’s license” or something. Marriage, if it is a religious institution as many claim, should not have any bearing on legal issues and should not be a matter of governmental concern. I’m an atheist, and can’t understand why some devout individuals would approve of me getting married in a church, but would deny that right to people of faith who are homosexual. This is obviously a very emotionally charged issue, as many gay couples would clearly love to be able to say they are “married.” I wish we could simply separate the two halves of marriage – the one involving divine blessing and the one involving the right to receive legal protection and government recognition as being in a steady lifetime partnership. As a non-religious person, I’d be willing to to have a “unity ceremony” or “lifetime love ceremony” instead of a marriage if it meant everyone could have the right to retain the integrity of their religious convictions without preventing their fellow Americans from having the integrity of their romantic relationships acknowledged.