KEITH OLBERMANN gets this right. A conservative Christian responds:
I know this is a hot topic, and I apologize profusely about it, but this is important and I guess I have a different take on it than some on KOS. I am a christian, who before today, was completely against gay marriage. To this, I am ashamed. I have lived my life with such 'values' of morality and right and wrong shoved down my throat all my life. It's hard to see past it. It is hard to understand or escape from the views you were raised to believe... but I have. I have risen above the majority christian standards of how life should be. I now understand.Because this isn't about yelling and this isn't about politics. This is about the human heart and if that sounds corny... so be it.
The strong religious debaters are saying that this will hurt our children and hinder adoptions and doctors and even photographers. They say gay marriage will ruin our heterosexual lives and that it will hurt our rights and our privileges as Americans. What about their rights? What about their privileges. I now see why my former view was wrong. Why the majority of Christians are wrong.
I find myself at this moment torn. I am torn between what I was raised to believe and what I know in my heart is true. But this I do know, what is the difference between hammering to your children that they must follow their parents religious beliefs and giving gays the right to marry? I believe the first statement is far worse and deadening. Ted Haggard is a great example. This man was a strong christian and he ran a very large evangelical church in Colorado. What did we find out though? He was having a homosexual relationship with a male hooker. This was because he was suppressed of his sexuality all of his life, until the truth finally came to be revealed. This is what indoctrinating our children does.I have been indoctrinated and today I have been set free. I no longer hold the views of the anti gay marriage far right.
It seems as if the conservative christians have forgotten what Jesus' message was about. It was about love and it was about acceptance. As I recall from scripture, the pharisees didn't like this. So why do we twist the words of Jesus Christ to fit our views. Why do we use the bible as a weapon to destroy the hope of people? This makes no sense. My eyes have been open today and I can finally see. Tomorrow I will be dubbed as a 'victim of the gay agenda' This statement in general is horrendous. There is no 'gay agenda' there are people, people who want to get married. They want a damned certificate that says they are bound forever. But we wont give them that, because we are afraid our children will be gay? Are you serious!?
Is America this far gone? Can we only come so far only to be stopped by a wall that we refuse to climb over. We abolished slavery because we realized it was wrong. We gave women the right to vote because not doing so was wrong. We stopped imprisoning Japanese Americans because it was wrong. When are we going to realize that prohibiting gay marriage is wrong. Has anyone on the right seen that this makes a gay person less of an American... that we would prohibit their rights. It is not redefining the constitution... rather it is realization that gays are people. They are Americans... and they deserve every single right and every single privilege that you are me do.
So, to Mr Olbermann: Thank you. I hope there are many others that are effected by your words. I hope there are many others that change their minds, because this matters. I sat there with goosebumps as you spoke because I was appalled by my own beliefs and now I see and I admit to everyone that reads this simple blog that I was wrong and I am sorry. This is America. I think 52% of California forgot that.
California: Next time you consider raising millions of useless dollars into a hate campaign: try donating it to charity, feed the hungry, create missions trips to 3rd world countries, help the elderly, help donate to build hospitals, put money into cancer research... anything that isn't spreading indoctrinated propaganda that further spreads fear and hate.
1 Corinthians 13:13
"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
4 comments:
Very powerful...
Funny how dogma gives way to truth when we see the faces up close and personal. Keith's comment touched on the human face of the issue which so many keep at arm's length by speaking of the "gay agenda" ... anything to keep humanity out of the discussion. I also come from a conservative Christian background, and it wasn't until I came face to face with the heart of a Christian gay man that I considered another perspective. Working as a counselor for a faith-based counseling center, I had the privilege of working with a young gay man from shortly after his AIDS diagnosis to his death. It changed my life.
I teach college parttime, and remember a class in downtown Oakland. The group consisted of mostly African American women, most from conservative religious backgrounds. The class was on adult and family development, and we spent some time talking about gay families. The class as a whole had a hard time with the idea and struggled to incorporate this into their preconceptions. I asked some friends of mine, a bi-racial gay couple who had adopted a son, to visit my class. At this time their son was two years old. The three came to class and these two dads told their stories... meeting, falling in love, the decision to become a family, the challenges, the joys... and the fears. I had allowed one hour for this discussion, but the class could not let them go. Tears glistened in many eyes, and the recognition as they related to my friends as parents, as family, was powerful. After they finally let them go, one of the women spoke with tears flowing... "this night has changed my life."
It is the personal face that makes the difference... the recognition of "family" and shared humanity which transcends all else... This is not to say the legal and political battle should not be fought; but only to say that the real change, the change of heart, will take place on a much more personal level.
Amen!That's all I can say.
lexusoakland, you speak from experience and I agree with you, from experience.
Keep the movement going, one person at a time.
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