Intolerance in the church

So the past 24 hours I have noticed a huge problem in the church. It's something that never really occured to me before, but two specific instances brought it to my attention and I was really shocked.

The issue is intolerance and hate toward homosexuals.

The first example: Last night I was hanging out with some girl friends from church and a couple guys from church that I don't really know that well. I don't know them, but I know their family members and such. One guy, who has two brothers who are amazing examples of Christ, was talking about someone's wedding. I wasn't paying much attention until he said, "One of the invitations was sent out to Mr. and Mr. Something. I can't believe they invited fags to their wedding! What if they make out or something?! That's gross!" I was like, "WHAT?!" I don't remember everything that we said, but every person in the room agreed with him. One of my friends was like, "You like gay people?" I didn't even know what to say.

I'm not totally sure what my stance is on the whole "gay by choice" vs. "gay by nature" controversy. I do believe that homosexual acts are sins, but that's not the point. The point is that the attitudes of every person in that room were hateful and judgemental and they were not reflecting Christ. It's one thing to disagree with a person's lifestyle, but to hate or condemn him/her for it is something else. Christ calls us to love people, all people.

The next example: At church this morning I walked up to a friend in the middle of a conversation. She was telling a story to a few people around about her brother. Both she and her brother are on the high school leadership team at church.Apparently he was at school and saw two guys making out. She said that gay people make him irrationally mad. She said that he saw them and yelled, "FAGS!" and wanted to fight them, but she got him to walk away. She didn't seem to see any problem in her brother's actions and neither did anyone else who was listening.

When she finished with her story, my eyes were wide. I said, "Wow...I'm just realizing that is a huge problem right now." She was like, "What? Gay people? I know!" I shook my head, "No. Attitudes toward gays. People in the church hate gays. That's not ok. Their attitudes are actually hateful." Then she said, "Yeah, I know. That's why I pulled him away. But he just gets really mad when he sees that."

And then the conversation was over. That made it ok. Being gay is wrong. Homosexuals are sinners. Never mind that homosexuals are people whom God created and loves. Never mind that being a church leader means setting an example of Christ. Never mind that Jesus calls us to love even our enemies. We don't have to agree with everyone. We don't even have to like them, but we do have to love them.

Maybe this seems far-fetched to you, but I would compare that sort of attitude to racism. Calling a homosexual "Fag" is like calling a black person the "N-word" or a non-virgin "Whore." It's completely wrong and there is no way to justify it. The way my brothers- and sisters-in-Christ talk about gays reminds me of videos I watched in school about civil rights movements in The South. It reminds me of the way racist people hated African-Americans and, in my opinion, it is just as wrong.

That's all I wanted to say. Thanks for reading.

-Cassandra Helena