{"id":3356,"date":"2012-06-23T06:51:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T10:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=3356"},"modified":"2012-06-23T06:56:15","modified_gmt":"2012-06-23T10:56:15","slug":"restoring-faith-in-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2012\/06\/restoring-faith-in-humanity.html","title":{"rendered":"Restoring Faith In Humanity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/files\/2012\/06\/forgiveness.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-3357\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/107\/2012\/06\/forgiveness-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I saw this\u00a0photo of a monumentous event. At a Gay Pride parade in Chicago, a group\u00a0of\u00a0Christians\u00a0bravely stood up with\/for their Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters as they countered centuries of homophobia. Imagine the celebration that took place as those whose choice of who\u00a0they love was disparaged at minimum,\u00a0demonized at the extreme, read these signs. I got goosebumps at the possibility that all followers of Christ could choose to be Christ-like and refrain from judgement of those whose love-styles were different from their own. It in no way means that they all\u00a0agree with the choices, just rising above condemnation.\u00a0 I wonder what the heart of someone who\u00a0selects hate and fear over love and acceptance, looks like. Anger and bigotry poisons the one holding it even more than the one to whom it is directed.<\/p>\n<p>I am not a big tv watcher; usually my viewing takes place at the gym while on the ellipitical or gazelle machines. There is a show called &#8220;What Would You Do?&#8221; which is\u00a0of the\u00a0values clarification Candid Camera genre, hosted by John Qui\u00f1ones. One episode involved a woman trying on a wedding gown.\u00a0 She was a beautiful blonde (really an actor) who when wearing a gorgeous dress was being admired by the saleswoman (also an actor) who said something like &#8220;Oh, he&#8217;s just going to love seeing you come down the aisle. You look stunning.&#8221; The bride replied, &#8220;Not he&#8230;.she. I&#8217;m marrying a woman.&#8221;\u00a0 At that, the\u00a0(seemingly) shocked saleswoman told her that she couldn&#8217;t possibly allow her to buy the fabric confection since it was appalling to her that she was a Lesbian. This scene was repeated several times and at one point the tearful woman was being pulled at as the saleswoman attempted to get her to take off the gown. Each time, the other\u00a0customers were\u00a0disgusted at the saleswoman&#8217;s reaction\u00a0and comforted the bride and a few guided her out of the store and refused to shop there themselves. The most poignant was an African American mother and daughter who cried when witnessing the altercation and one of them said that this was equivalent of the racism that multi-cultural or bi-racial couples have\u00a0faced. How relieved they all were, when John waltzed in and \u00a0it was revealed that it was staged for the camera. The sad part is how often this does happen in real life where same sex couples are not afforded the same right to marry. When I officiate at ceremonies, I consider them weddings; not commitment ceremonies as some refer to them. The only difference is that in most places, it is not yet state sanctioned.<\/p>\n<p>Seeing this photo and watching that show have restored my sometimes wavering faith in humanity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/youtu.be\/-z2LNsifEzg\">http:\/\/youtu.be\/-z2LNsifEzg<\/a>\u00a0 Love&#8217;s In Need of Love by Stevie Wonder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I saw this\u00a0photo of a monumentous event. At a Gay Pride parade in Chicago, a group\u00a0of\u00a0Christians\u00a0bravely stood up with\/for their Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters as they countered centuries of homophobia. Imagine the celebration that took place as those whose choice of who\u00a0they love was disparaged at minimum,\u00a0demonized at the extreme, read these signs.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,13,70,19,1246,3,22,4,16,48,10,38],"tags":[1898,1900,1901,1902,1792,1897,1903,1896,454,1899],"class_list":["post-3356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-blissfull-thinking","category-community","category-empowerment","category-faith","category-gratitude","category-healing","category-inspiration","category-my-personal-bliss","category-sexuality","category-spirituality","category-transformation","tag-candid-camera","tag-chicago","tag-christians","tag-gay","tag-gay-pride","tag-john-quinones","tag-lesbian","tag-loves-in-need-of-love","tag-stevie-wonder","tag-what-would-you-do"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Restoring Faith In Humanity - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2012\/06\/restoring-faith-in-humanity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Restoring Faith In Humanity - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I saw this\u00a0photo of a monumentous event. At a Gay Pride parade in Chicago, a group\u00a0of\u00a0Christians\u00a0bravely stood up with\/for their Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters as they countered centuries of homophobia. Imagine the celebration that took place as those whose choice of who\u00a0they love was disparaged at minimum,\u00a0demonized at the extreme, read these signs.&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2012\/06\/restoring-faith-in-humanity.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/snuggleyoga\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-23T10:51:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-06-23T10:56:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/files\/2012\/06\/forgiveness-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edie Weinstein, MSW, LSW\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EdieWeinstein1\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Restoring Faith In Humanity - The Bliss Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2012\/06\/restoring-faith-in-humanity.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Restoring Faith In Humanity - The Bliss Blog","og_description":"I saw this\u00a0photo of a monumentous event. 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She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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