There's a lot to deal with in this topic, and it's gotten pretty off course. I guess I'm not going to respond to everything right now.
...vantage point, and it looks ridiculous. I don't mean to be rude about that, I'm just trying to give my perspective. Christianity was a lot more appealing to me when it was about loving thy neighbor, doing unto others as you would do unto them, and living a pious and humble life devoted to service rather than stealing, killing, lying or engaging in other sins. Nowadays, however, Christianity has become this monstrous judgmental juggernaut that has lost its primary focus in favor of a decided focus of attention on marriage and pregancy, and more specifically who they don't want to get married (gays) and who they want to stay pregnant (everyone). Can Christians' public perception ever return to that of loving kindness?
The media's portrayal of Christianity is ridiculous. I definitely agree there. The most important thing in any Christian's life is his relationship with Jesus Christ. We obey the spirit and the letter of God's law based on this love. When a person is transformed and leaves their sinful habits behind, it's the effect of being saved. Not the cause.
If you hear anyone saying "God hates fags" or something like that, that's not a Christian. Christ
died for everyone, straight and gay alike. While it is clear that God views homosexuality as sexual sin, he views my heterosexual lust the same. I am also guilty. All sinners deserve love, since our God displayed us the ultimate love.
I realize that violence and discrimination against gays is a major problem in many parts of the world, but in my school Christians are discriminated against more. You can't mention Jesus' name without getting dirty looks. You can't talk about your own faith in social studies. If you do, you're accused of "shoving religion down other people's throats" while the Jews, Buddhists and Daoists get applause. This is during the World Religions section! It's pretty rough for me. I have some homosexual friends. None of the ones I know personally have faced any problems, actually. Some speaker came in during an assemble and called the Bible "a pile of bullshit" and Christians "pansy-assed bigots" during an anti-bullying seminar. Huh.
On another note, I don't think that fighting against abortion is a hateful thing. Of course no one should be hated or bullied for circumstances beyond their control. While unborn babies don't have legal rights because they weren't
born in the U.S, I don't think the founding fathers anticipated this. Since the American Constitution is based on "unalienable rights endowed by their Creator," it makes sense for new life to be protected from the moment of creation. I realize that it's tough on the women, especially if they were raped. I sympathize. But...legal murder. Of children!
Legally - I'm not sure it's constitutional for the government to control marriage at all, but the Supreme Court ruled that it does. The Constitution is based on morality, meaning that moral thought can never be removed from the law. Paradoxically, it's not allowed to endorse any particular
type of morality. The U.S. has no business saying anything about marriage one way or the other.
