{"id":82,"date":"2008-12-16T16:44:21","date_gmt":"2008-12-16T16:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comment-of-the-day-10.html"},"modified":"2008-12-16T16:44:21","modified_gmt":"2008-12-16T16:44:21","slug":"comment-of-the-day-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comment-of-the-day-10.html","title":{"rendered":"Comment of the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Basil, responding to Quote of the Weekend<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I appreciate the civil tenor of all of these comments. I am a gay
\nman, who is exploring my own religious beliefs, via Quakerism, and
\nenjoy my worship greatly. I am very interested in my spiritual
\ndevelopment, but have much more study ahead before I commit to any
\nparticular belief.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, I have seen too many protestors running around with
\n“God Hates Queers” (or similar) signs, and have personally encountered
\nsome real vitriole in my home state when we passed a very sweeping
\n“anti gay-marriage” constitutional amendment. Too many “Christians”
\n(the quotes are deliberate) spout too much hatred at gays and lesbians,
\nand too many clergy vilify gays and lesbians and incite hatred against
\nthe LGBT community. Just since November 4, there have been two murders
\nof transgender men (one in New York, another in Tennessee), another
\nmurder of a gay couple in Indiana, and a savage beating in New York of
\na young latino immigrant mistaken for a gay man because he was walking
\nwith brother. He is now brain dead. <\/p>\n

According to the most recent FBI statistics, about 15% of all hate
\ncrimes are committed because of an individual’s sexual orientation or
\ngender identity. Either by silence or active encouragement, too many
\n“Christians”, their hateful clergy, and their pandering right-wing
\npoliticians, are complicit in discrimination, abuse and murder of gays,
\nlesbians and transgender individuals. <\/p>\n

I believe homophobia is a sin. Until “Christians” can condemn
\nhomophobia unequivocally and set aside their personal beliefs in order
\nto work for full civil equality, they have nothing useful to say.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Basil, responding to Quote of the Weekend: I appreciate the civil tenor of all of these comments. I am a gay man, who is exploring my own religious beliefs, via Quakerism, and enjoy my worship greatly. I am very interested in my spiritual development, but have much more study ahead before I commit to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment-of-the-day","category-same-sex-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\nComment of the Day - The New Christians<\/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\/tonyjones\/2008\/12\/comment-of-the-day-10.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comment of the Day - The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From Basil, responding to Quote of the Weekend: I appreciate the civil tenor of all of these comments. 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