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Further updates on the Baptist church
Jul. 18th, 2005 01:19 pmSo I heard back from the pastor. Let me just say I give the guy a lot of credit for writing back to me at all. I did that even before I opened the letter itself, so even if his response had been totally hate-filled I would have still given him props for taking the time to read what I wrote, let alone write back to it. He could've easily hit delete and moved on with his life.
I'm not going to quote his email b/c to me that violates the rules of privacy. I'll do a quick summary though:
1) He thanks me for writing and says he can tell that I put a lot of thought into what I wrote (as opposed to writing something reactionary and inflammatory)
2) He says that the banner does not defend marriage by being anti-gay.
3) He says I should check out the church's website to read his sermons so I can see what things the church does do to defend marriage in a positive manner. He also cites examples for me such as marriage counseling.
4) He gives me a politely worded but fairly boilerplate version of every "Marriage is ordained by God to mean one man, one woman" speech you've ever heard.
5) He gives me the name and email address of someone I can write to who has, according to him, a lot of experience in the horror of living in same-sex relationships and who can explain to me just how important it is to help save people from that.
6) He invites me to write or call or even schedule an appointment with him if I want to talk more.
I'm definitely going to write back. I'm composing my thoughts at the moment and I'll post my letter for y'all when I write it. I will say though that even though I obviously don't agree with his POV (esp #2, I mean WTF? It says anti-gay stuff on it! It says homosexuals specifically! I mean unless there's another Baptist church on that exact same block who also has a big-ass banner out in front that talks about defending marriage, how on earth is he saying #2 with a straight, no pun intended, face?) he could not have been nicer or more polite in his wording. And remember that from his POV I'm the one who's nucking futs, so he gets huge credit from me for being open to talking, even if it's someone he doesn't agree with.
So I'll write back and we'll see how it goes =)
I'm not going to quote his email b/c to me that violates the rules of privacy. I'll do a quick summary though:
1) He thanks me for writing and says he can tell that I put a lot of thought into what I wrote (as opposed to writing something reactionary and inflammatory)
2) He says that the banner does not defend marriage by being anti-gay.
3) He says I should check out the church's website to read his sermons so I can see what things the church does do to defend marriage in a positive manner. He also cites examples for me such as marriage counseling.
4) He gives me a politely worded but fairly boilerplate version of every "Marriage is ordained by God to mean one man, one woman" speech you've ever heard.
5) He gives me the name and email address of someone I can write to who has, according to him, a lot of experience in the horror of living in same-sex relationships and who can explain to me just how important it is to help save people from that.
6) He invites me to write or call or even schedule an appointment with him if I want to talk more.
I'm definitely going to write back. I'm composing my thoughts at the moment and I'll post my letter for y'all when I write it. I will say though that even though I obviously don't agree with his POV (esp #2, I mean WTF? It says anti-gay stuff on it! It says homosexuals specifically! I mean unless there's another Baptist church on that exact same block who also has a big-ass banner out in front that talks about defending marriage, how on earth is he saying #2 with a straight, no pun intended, face?) he could not have been nicer or more polite in his wording. And remember that from his POV I'm the one who's nucking futs, so he gets huge credit from me for being open to talking, even if it's someone he doesn't agree with.
So I'll write back and we'll see how it goes =)
