Monday, February 17, 2014

Voices of Faith: Calling out Christians

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Voices of Faith
From the HuffPo, a Christian pastor calls out his fellow CHristians on their support for anti-gay laws and initiatives:
As an ordained Christian pastor, I am angered by my co-religionists' collaboration and complicity with these laws that specifically target the LGBT community. How outrageous -- how sinful -- that our religious tradition should be used in the service of the demonization and denigration of our fellow human beings. It has gone on long enough. It is time for justice-minded Christians to get up off the sidelines and in the famous words of the Stonewall drag-queen Sylvia Rivera: "Not take any more of this shit."

The good news is that many Christians both in the pews and in leadership positions are already standing with LGBT people. ...

Those of us who are Christian have to add to and embolden these voices with our own. Christians should make sure that their churches, friends and denominational leaders have a chance to meet and talk to LGBT people and understand how being targeted by these laws makes us feel. Christians should take to their own Facebook pages and other social media and stand with LGBT people.

Religious leaders on every level must directly speak out against the complicity of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant Christians in the targeting of God's LGBT children. Pope Francis, I'm talking to you. It is time for you to use your prophetic voice and speak out against use of violence and for the full equality of LGBT people. All of those on Twitter should reach out to @Pontifex using #PopeSpeakOut

Recent events around the world show us that sitting on the sidelines is no longer permissible -- especially for Christians. We cannot let others speak for Jesus. Our faith is being used to do serious harm to LGBT people. Showing love for our neighbor today, as commanded by Jesus, means stepping up and standing in solidarity with our LGBT sisters and brothers around the world.

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