The Coming Fight Over Religious Liberty

FAIL---most pastors don't make a lot of money. Your comments are prejudicial, kinda like what the author was talking about.

COMPLETE FAIL - Your analogy to the Aryan nation is simply wrong if you are trying to support the gay community. It's not the churches that are trying to get into the gay community. This article makes the point that churches should be able to exclude gays if their religion so dictates - just as you would appear to support a business excluding members of the Aryan nation because they offend the store owner's beliefs.

Lesson for the day: Think your knee jerk reactions through.

Class dismissed.

Wow are you ever misinformed. Ministers do not make "good" money!

The problem is that most gay and lesbians are just as bias, if not more so, that Christians. Just because a Christian does not agree with your lifestyle DOES NOT mean they are throwing hate at you. That's a made up thought by the gay/lesbian activists that has been fueled by the lack of attention to what happens in A LOT of gay/lesbian relationships. You rarely see a story of when a gay or lesbian abuse a child (typically sexually) or there is a hate crime against a heterosexual. Why? Because gay/lesbian organizations, along with the media, do their best to keep these types of things hidden. How is this unbias to the heterosexuals?

If you want Christians to stop "spewing" their so called "hate" toward you, I'd suggest you start showing them the same kind of love you expect for them to give you. Everyone, even Christians, are human and make mistakes. Why don't you be the bigger person, as hard as that is because Christians "hate you so much", and show them what you expect them to give you.

luxury, I find your post distasteful and ridiculous. Especially your made up (lie) concerning gay couples sexually abusing their children. That shows your erroneous belief that homosexuality and pedophiles are the same. Shame on you. Equality for all is part of our constitution as well as All men are created equal.

chris, calm down.
honestly, i'm as liberal as it gets, and i fully support all rights granted to every citizen of this country, whether they are black, asian, white, indian, native american, part of the LGBTQPAI community, or straight. it honestly doesn't matter to me.
but i know several people who are not heterosexual, and the thing that puts heterosexuals off about the LGBTQPAI community is that you guys are extremely self-righteous. i'm sorry, but it's true.
i'm biracial; half white and half black. i'm not going around screaming about my rights. i know they were (mostly) granted forty years ago, and the LGBTQPIA definitely does not enjoy all the rights they should have been entitled to long ago, but still. blaming heterosexuals for your problems is not going to solve anything. just like blaming whites for the 452 years of slavery they put my people through doesn't help me get a better job, either.
making an intelligent argument instead of going off about us straight people would definitely put you guys in a better favor with the majority of the nation (who is striaght, or at least claims to be)
and let me say that i of course know being LGBTQPIA is NOT a choice. i believe it is something you're just born with. like how i don't choose to be black haha. no one chooses to be persecuted. so i thoroughly dissaprove of that argument. just so you know.

the majority of the gay community is, i'm sure, very accepting. i'm just saying you should try being less offended and more patient. it's honestly the only way to get things done anymore.

I think if you can cheat on your husband and wife and still be a good christian then you can be homosexual and be one also. But in the case of a private school who is teaching christian values, (which seem to be questionable now adays who has them) they get to set the rules. Its their school. Now on getting funds from the government when they want their own rules, why not? This is where school choice should be done , there should be vouchers, everyone can not afford to pay for private school but we all pay school taxes whether or not we attend the public schools. So if I chose to send my child to public school why shouldnt my school tax money go with my child to the school I choose? This is something that would help alot of familys out and considering how poor public schools are at making the grade many parents feel they have no choice but to put their kids in private school. Public schools are not teaching the kids anymore, the dummied down end of grade tests are a joke and the kids cant pass them, its so bad that some principal in georgia got caught changing the kids answers to make it look like they actually learned something. Teacher unions have made it impossible to remove bad performing teachers and our kids are paying the price. So I say if you want to send your child to a private school with religious base or without it, you should be entitled to a voucher to help pay for it. In which case since we pay our taxes to the government the voucher money or money to the school would have to come from the government.

alicsmi8 said:

This *is* a debate on rights, no matter how you try to spin it. What's being decided is whether or not gays, lesbians, and transgendered people should be given the same freedoms as their straight counterparts. And so far, I have heard absolutely NO compelling reasons for why they should not.

WRONG. This is an issue of morality, not of rights. Now you may not believe that homosexuality is an immoral act, and you are entitled to that opinion. But, since I do happen to believe that it is an immoral act, under what value system do you believe that I must compromise "my morality" to conform to another's liberalism? If in fact you believe (and I hope you don't after you think about it a little) that I should have no problem in altering my moral view, then the fact is that you just plain don't see any value at all in morality. If you did, you COULD NOT expect me to modify my stand on the subject. This isn't true just for this particular subject, it would also hold true for any other issue where one has a strong moral view. For me, the next one I think of is the right to life. In both cases we may disagree on whether or not it is moral or immoral, but neither of us should expect the other to change for the sake of being "agreeable". Also please make note, that neither I nor other Christians are trying to pass civil laws making it illegal to pass on to our children those values which we hold sacred. The liberals in our society have been very adept at causing the public in general to respond to specific "triggers". A certain percentage will jump on board whenever they hear things like "hate crime" or "politically correct". Did you ever hear of a crime of love? There is no such thing. All crimes are done for self, with no consideration of others and a total disregard for any law. As for politically correct, the Nazis were that. The right has often been maligned for "blindly following their leadership". What percentage of those who align themselves with the thought process defining "hate crimes" and "political correctness" do you think have actually come to their conclusions on their own?

Much has been said about Christians and what they believe. Even on the subject of homosexuality there appears to be great differences of opinion within the "Christian" denominations themselves. An everyday analogy might be the sports world. There are kids just learning to throw and catch a ball. Another group is learning to make contact between the ball and the bat. Others have progressed to the point where they are starting to play sandlot ball and are learning all the rules of the game. Next comes Little League, followed by Babe Ruth, where one's knowledge and skills improve a little more. High school ball, college ball, semi-pro, and finally professional ball at both minor league & major league levels may follow this. This analogy may be irritating to some, but it is truly representative of the overall spiritual level of the group known today as Christians. We are all in different levels of knowledge in regard to our understanding of the word of God. Some have no desire to even bother learning to catch or throw. Some never get beyond the fundamentals of catching and throwing. Others may get to the sandlot level and think they know it all. From the sandlot to the major league, the numbers of participants drop drastically. So it is with those of us who call ourselves Christians. Those of our number who have progressed up to the sandlot level often times think they know it all. Those who reach the semi-pro level will tell you they DO KNOW IT ALL. For those who reach the major league, they will tell you that by God's grace, but not in this lifetime, we will someday know it all. It is only by constant studying of God's word that we can learn what is morally right in the sight of God. A true Christian is one who recognizes God as their creator, admits that he or she is a sinner in the sight of God and recognizes the death of His son Jesus Christ as the only valid payment for his or her sin. It is only after these things occur, that we are able to truly call ourselves Christians. One is not born a Christian, anymore than one is born a pipefitter. It is a calling that requires one to make a conscious decision and an effort to follow. Increase in knowledge is very much the same as it is in any study. If you don't open the book, you don't get much out of it. When we do open the book, one of the things we rapidly find out is that we are no better than anyone else in this world is. The advantages Christians have over non-Christians? We recognize that God loves each and every man, woman and child on earth, Christian or non-Christian. Death is the only acceptable payment for sin. Having made the decision required of a true Christian, our debt for sin has been paid by the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ when He was crucified. We must, as the Bible commands us, "GO FORTH INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL". It is not our job to convert anyone to Christianity. It is only our job to spread the message and let God take over from there. If you choose to ignore Him, that’s between the two of you.

May God Bless,

Warren Godfrey

Keep your government out of my church. Church isn't a building with STUFF that only happens on Sundays. Faith is everyday, everywhere.. people pray anywhere you just dont know it cause they are keeping to themselves....Churches have a right to practice based on their believes just as other groups do. Dont force your gay agenda on NON GAYS.. stay gay in your gay church or your gay group.

That anyone would have the idea that this is an atheist country or that it was founded upon deist ideology shows that they do not know the history of this country - instead of doing any kind of research on the history behind our money, our constitution, and even the strong patriotism of the people of the United States - some would rather take for word the half-truths spouted by angry individuals and then placed in written form and taken as the "new truth". This is a country rich with "religous" history unfortunate is the word "religous" which is a word that make most shutter - even myself. This has always been a country that for the most part has been a place free for everyone and their religous beliefs, unfortunately this is rapidly changing. Changing in that there are those who are getting their "feelings hurt" and because their feelings are hurt they are now forcing upon others rules of "tolerance". Though their rules of tolerance are tolerate me and what I say - but if you say you do not agree with me (not hate me) but if you even do not agree with me then you do not have tolerance. Yet if you do not agree with the beliefs of Christians - you on the other hand do not have to follow the same rules of tolerance. Seems like a double standard to me. Yes I am a Christian - someone who seeks a relationship with Jesus Christ,God, not a relationship with church and rules not even founded in the Word of God. I try to follow His example, and I believe marriage is for 1 man and 1 woman, yet I know that their are those who disagree, but you know what I'm fine with that. My feelings are not hurt by this, nor am I angered by this. Jesus loved/loves all and tells us to do the same, that does not mean we will all agree, but Everyone is to be treated with human decency, kindness and respect no matter their beliefs. So though I do not agree with homosexuality I do not love my family or friends who are or who believe that it is right any less, or think less of them to any degree-we just believe differently. What they believe is between them and God and I am to treat them with love and kindess just as I would want to be treated.