most amusing of all were the combined comments of those who blame it all on Satan, and the others who say well, he hasn’t been convicted yet, and the others who say we should not be judging the man.

My guess is, put it all together, add water, and if the guy is found not guilty, then I guess someone owes Satan an apology.

I went to the Mormon link and read this story:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705316062/LDS-seminary-principal-arrested.html

First, it read like soft, but really hot, porn! I wondered, why on earth would they print so much details? Ah, repression will always find its way to seep out…whether it is the principal of the school having sex with a student, or, or, get ready, it is the detailed writings of a reporter who is severely repressed.

Second, I read a comment warning readers about the heterosexual agenda! I just had to laugh! I posted a “serious” comment affirming the warning that there really is a secret agenda in which man are trying to have sex with the opposite sex. I didn’t see it get posted, so I guess the monitor censored me. They do warn you.

Third, the LW’s of the Deseret News are something else. A handful were insightful, but the majority were not.

Conclusion: It makes a person really appreciate the LW’s on Box Turtle Bulletin. Seriously. The BTB letter writers are intelligent and make reasonable statements. Go look for yourself!

To BTB LW’s: good work.

I mean this with all due respect, but when you coin the phrase, “gang”, I am not a part of your gang. We are not on the same team. Perhaps a simpler greeting could be found?

I wish you well none the less.

You are great and thanks for speaking out. BTW, LW means Letter Writer.

It is my opinion that it is evil for Christians to call gayness a sin. We cannot repent. We are still gay the next day. It is evil to let someone think that suicide seems the only option for the “sin” of being gay. I can stop stealing, but I can’t stop being gay.

I agree with you Ben on all your points. I too believed the lies at one time. Oddly, when I decided to love ALL of me, including my “sin”, I learned that God never judged me at all. God loved ALL of me. I judged me.

The Bible takes on a whole new meaning when it is read from a love point of view. The Christians who are using Bible-based bashing justifications cannot be verified by the Bible. I still am amazed and I truly marvel, let me shout it out louder, I ABSOLUTELY INCREDULOUSLY MARVEL at the blatant disregard for Jesus’ statements to NOT judge one another. Judge on they do.

When I try to balance the good acts of the Church against their attacks on gay persons, I think I then also understand Revelations a little better when John said (I will paraphrase) “To the churches: You have done some things right, but you have utterly failed in other equally important ways.”

However, for me, the loss of my church relationships and the loss of that love has hurt me greatly.

Setting all the religion aside, in America, we have the guarantee of CIVIL RIGHTS for ALL. What about that? What does ALL mean? It means everyone. People. Period.

Thanks Ben for your insights.

I used to buy that idea– we don’t hate you, we just hate your sin. It accorded with the Christians (primarily) I knew, all of whom I would have described as good people. But then I began to realize thay didn’t know me, or indeed, anything about me, or homosexuality, or gay people. The more I read in the bible, the more I also understood that they didn’t know much about that, either. I especially loved the ones who told me that they weren’t judging me, they were just reporting what the Good Book so clearly says. That’s not judging at all.

These same good Christians (again, usually) are always happy to tell me how much they love me, and then follow it up with comments like ‘cancer on society’ and the whole vicious panoply of anti-gay, homophobic, lying rants. They will tell me how much they love me right before they tell me how much they hate my child-molesting, disease spreading, country-destroying, religion-despising, marriage-compromising, military demoralizing ways. Eventually, I realized that 1) it allows them to maintain their self-image as loving, kind, gentle, godly people; and 2) it allows others, whose sensibilities and sensitivities, especially of the legalistic sort, are not so refined, to do the hating, while those who love me so much can stand idly by and claim no responsibility for the consequences.

It is a win-win for everyone but the victims.

I know that the LW minced words with me and I just let it go. But, you, YOU disected that LW and the truth shined through!

And you wrote …”In other words, I am interested in arguing only the unarguable. the damage my churvch does to people it does not know and clearly knows nothing about is of no interest to me.”

I went back and read what the LW said to me from a “theological only” point of view, and, I thought the same as you. I didn’t even bother to consider his points. And the reason I dismissed his theology is due to the following statement from
Regan Ducasse: …I see a Mormon family who was nearly on the verge of losing their handsome son. And because of their ACCEPTANCE….” and Regan wrote this: …”This young man was on the verge of suicide and there is no way HE misrepresented his life’s teaching and social network.
It is the dominant culture that burdens gay people with a yoke that misrepresents THEM.”

The point isn’t about theology. It is about a suicide in making. A suicide born from theology. Mormon or Christian, IT IS NOT a godly theology.

Thanks Ben. It does seem that they love the sin and hate the sinner. Doesn’t it? And Regan: good insight to the real issues. Indeed, Carry on.

it does however automatically assign them to be second class citizens and does everything possible to take their rights away.