From a Real Christian

Susan Calloway, editor of The Price of Liberty, has a few words for some of her fellow Christians who froth at the mouth screaming "gay sinners!!!"

So, those who stand before TV cameras, march around in demonstrations and scream about God's hate for homosexuals might do well to shut up, go home, read the "Good Book" and deal with their own sin instead. They might examine how "sacred" their own marriage is, and their example to their children. As St. Paul said, we must all work out our own salvation. It isn't something we can do for anyone else, no matter how much we love them — let alone when we hate and revile them.

We will all eventually have to face the judgment of God for our sin, but none of us have any right to judge the sin of anyone else on this earth. Jesus said it very plainly, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". And to the adulterous woman he said, "Go and sin no more".

I may be agnostic, but I've read the Book a few times myself and I'm glad that Ms. Calloway spoke up. Those who profess to believe the Book, yet constantly run to government to force others to act in accordance with their beliefs are missing the point.

The government in this nation cannot legislate one person's brand of morality, nor can it outlaw another person's behaviors and restrict that person's liberties based on the beliefs of any individual or group of individuals, regardless of what any book or deity told them. I don't care what their preacher told them. I don't care what Pat Robertson told them. Freedom sometimes means staying out of other people's lives and business. You don't have to like it, but you don't have the right to force your beliefs on others via government. Oppression is oppression, whether its done for political purposes, or to enforce theocratic dictates on non-believers.

It is up to us heathens, on an individual basis, to reform or perish, each according to our own beliefs. Like it or lump it, my life is my own. You have your way, I have mine. We can all get along, so long as certain folks stop trying to legislate certain other folks into a state of semi-citizenship. While a ban on homosexual marriages doesn't have a direct effect on my marriage, it wasn't that long ago that my "interracial" marriage would have been illegal in the very state I live, based on the prevailing "religious" beliefs of past eras.

While I don't relish the thought of government involvement in such private matters as marriage recognition, we can't have it both ways. Either governments stop pretending they have the right to enforce theocratic mandates and start to allow same-sex marriage, or they need to get out of the marriage business altogether. I favor the latter, but I'll take the former for the short-term.