The Missiongathering Christian Church of California has bought billboard space along the Billy Graham Parkway in Charlotte, North Carolina. The billboard is an apology on behalf of Christians to the gay community for all of the hate and un-Christian behavior towards homosexuals in the name of God.
The San Diego based church placed a similar apology on a billboard in California after Prop 8 was passed. The response was so huge that they decided to buy billboard space in North Carolina in the wake of Amendment 1 passing there, effectively banning same-sex marriage. It is fitting that this billboard is placed on a highway named after a preacher who opposed equal rights for gays and lesbians. I wonder how many so-called “Christian” churches will condemn this fantastic and well-timed apology in the name of hate.
Linky.
Isn't it wonderful when we hear from the moderate/liberal Christians and not just the fire and brimstone, Pat Robertson/Pope-types?
Comments (50)
big up to them.
Kudos indeed. Hopefully that will have some positive effects.
Brace yourself for the usual barrage of convoluted bullcrap from the gay hating crowd. They will amazingly find ways to put down that church. Oh, my bad. They don't hate gays, they looooove them. They just spit in their face by doing all they can to have them treated as second class citizens.
Wish more churches were like them. But then if they were, we wouldn't be in this mess right now.
By the way, have you read that North Carolina is trying to one-up themselves after passing Amendment One by outlawing prediction of weather according to rising sea levels?
oh my God, i might actually convert :)
if anyone is interested, Wiki has a nifty chart of Christian denominations and their stances on same-sex marriage or homosexuality in general:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominational_positions_on_homosexuality#Summary_of_denominational_positions_in_North_America_and_Europe
That has cheered me up!
I also have a lot of respect for the churches that serve the homeless. Feeding the homeless and allowing them to clean up gives folks new respect.
There are many Churches that serve the gays. But some instances at funerals the Church have turned down the gays in giving them privileges. Openly gays getting Baptism? That is another issue.
There are quite a few openly gay preachers. I think the door to join Churches often hinge upon the Gay issue. Some gays have started their own churches so that they can belong. I wonder if there is a list of Churches that gays can join?
A search is not hard to do :
http://www.gaychurch.org/find_a_church/united_states/united_states.htm
In California there is about 744 churches that accept gays.
The Church you wrote about is here:
http://www.missiongathering.com/
Like.
Excellent, and way past overdue.
@PPhilip - The issue here, for me, is less that this church is tolerant of homosexuals, but that it took a stand and openly stated that the bigotry of some churches by inflicting their anti-homosexual position on the voting public, taking rights away from an underprivileged class, is morally wrong.
That is so cool!!
I wonder if they are any affiliation with Jay Bakker's Revolution Church. He always handed out cards similar to that. They used to hand out these stickers.
There was a Xangan that used to belong to a group that went to gay pride parades and such and apologized for the behavior of his fellow Christians. They wore shirts that said "I'm Sorry" and handed out cards and explained themselves to anyone who asked. I don't know if he still does any of it, but it was very heartening and positive to read about, and he said they got some good reactions (though there was some initial confusion).
Always nice to see good stuff like this.
Hell yes!
Piss on that church.
Here's an atheist who's opposed to gay marriage. Good for her.
@soccerdadforlife - Now that I've blocked Curtis, you're just trying to take his place as ignorant bigot-in-chief, aren't you?
I recall a time when you attempted civil discourse. I guess we all grow up, huh? Or in your case, down.
I'm certainly glad to see this. I know that there are many other people who feel this way, but maybe can't afford a billboard. It's nice to be so public about it.
@GodlessLiberal - You may pretend that it's civil to call those who are against homosexuality and homosexual marriage "hate-filled," "narrow-minded," "deceptive," "judgmental," and "manipulative," but anyone who has at least two neurons will recognize that you are being quite inflammatory and practicing those very things yourself.
Then you go and call me a bigot, which is uncivil and hypocritical, being as you're bigoted against 1. God, 2. those who believe God when He says that homosexuality is wrong, and 3. truth. You, like that false church, are "judgmental, narrow-minded, hateful, deceptive, and manipulative;" you're obviously only pretending to be civil. You're far more bigoted than I will ever be.
Homosexuality is a sin; advocating homosexuality, including the tolerance of it, is a far worse sin.
Yeah. It's good to keep in mind that Christians run the political and social spectrum.
I'm a born again Christian and I too feel upset for the gay community and all the hurtful and nasty abuse they have had to suffer from some 'religious Christian's' - I am not sure they read the bible right.
As one dear friend who is a Christian and happens to be gay - once showed me, a book about homosexuality and the church and how homosexuality is not actually mentioned in the bible (by Bishop Spong) in the way that people say / think... I'm not going on a rant here.
It was a lovely gesture that church made and one many of us also feel.
Peace
Very cool.
@soccerdadforlife - If you regard being gay a sin, then don't do it. Also you should realize that there are those who believe that sin is bullshit and refuse to subscribe to the control structure of your belief system.
@GodlessLiberal - It's good to see churches speak out against those who feel it necessary to police the actions of others in their faith, it needs to go further though.
@brown_buffalo - "Also you should realize that there are those who believe that sin is bullshit and refuse to subscribe to the control structure of your belief system." And for them there is the unfortunate prospect of eternal damnation away from God's glory. I imagine that it will be to the damned as if they were separated forever from their true love, yet unable to commit suicide. Or as if they had betrayed their children or parents and had eternal regret which never diminished.
Of course, the belief system is contingent upon reality, so to deny the belief system is to deny reality.
@soccerdadforlife - No one has ever been able to prove that there is life of any kind after death, so why bother with all the BS. It's far more likely that it's all made up so that others can control you. To live my life in fear of eternal damnation would be a waste of time, and altering my behavior to suit a clearly immoral or amoral God would be the same.
while I have no respect for any protestant church. I think it is right that they are apologizing, at least they have the guts to admit that they caused so much misery.