A SIMPLE EMAIL ... draft 2

This was my own way of explaining one sense of my faith in light of the media attention given to some high-profile, fundamentalist Christians and their attitudes. It's not complicated.

In your email you mentioned our "buddy," the Rev. Fred Phelps! God love 'em! A reporter said recently that when he wrote a story about Phelps (and his family church) he came away feeling "dirty." I have had two run-ins with him -- once at church and once at a community event. I’d say feeling “dirty” is a good word!

And if you have not heard last week Rev. Phelps lost an 11 million dollar law suit for taking one of his "Glad American Soldiers are Dead because America is Tolerant Towards Fags" protests to the grave site memorial of an American Soldier who was killed in Iraq. That is just hateful.

That same reporter said that when he mentioned Phelps to other pastors in Topeka, Kansas, where Phelps is from, that they would turn away as if in disgust. But the point is well taken; those same pastors preach from the same Gospel and in some, but not all, cases may preach a similar but less public version of the "Phelps interpretation" of the Bible.

The reason I said "God love 'em" is because more than anyone I can think of the Rev. Phelps, and his "God Hates Fags" ministry, continues to draw attention to the hatred and prejudice that gay people face and how it continues to be used to justify social inequity and individual attacks on them. Like it or not, Phelps’ brand of theology is the natural extension of any so-called Biblical interpretation that says "homosexual practice is sinful."

The "light on the hill" here does not come from that Biblical misread but more importantly from the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It gives equal rights to all of us not just to him and his despicable attendance at military funeral. In fact the idea of equality under justice seems lost on a host of believers.

What I don’t understand is why folks call out a small group of Christians: “the Phelpses and the Pat Robertsons and the Benny Hinns” of our world and lump their version of the Bible together to indict all Christians.

I've been lucky enough to meet two of the great Christians prophets of our time, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And there are many, many others ... Historically, the Anti-Baptists, Quakers, Mennonites, St. Francis of Assisi… so, in the ways they “reconcile” their faith, you could say, so do I.

Forgive me, but I think your time would be better spent in reading about the likes of Dr. King than spending time with a few nut cases who will eventually be relegated to the dust bin of history.