…In other words, The State is no place to decide about the equality of any of the aforementioned marriages, and should therefore remove the idea from consideration when it comes to recognizing marriage. The equalness of any of them is far too subjective and are truly none of the public’s business, once any couple, Gay or straight goes home…There is only one way to ensure Marriage Equality for all under the law, and that is…”To ensure Marriage equality for all, under the law”; religious dogma cannot be allowed to contaminate the intended civil purity of The Constitution in any state. Period.

Listen, marriage may not be recognized in 48 states, but the truth of the matter is that Connecticut has approved gay marriage. While it’s great to continue to combat homophobia and anti-gay laws, shouldn’t we be celebrating – and taking advantage of – legal gay marriage?

I question things, think about things and wonder about things. My faith provides for me a solid rock to stand, a certain set of ethics and standards for myself, an ability to weather the ragged cares, worries, of the world. It allows me to go forth refreshed and renewed each week, provides with a vantage point with which to view my life and what I need from my life, etc.
This is not an escape, but an encouragement for me to ford every stream, to climb every mountain in life so to speak.

This is not new for me, but is something that has evolved for me over the years “as I grow and mature.”

This is my path and journey in life and I do not expect everyone to appreciate or to approve, and I totally respect the right of others to live their lives they way they best understand. Not everyone has the same path in life and that is totally OK.

I am totally passionate about gay rights and equality and have written many a note about gay rights to governors and politicians and why we need those rights now. I have attended gay marriage rallies and worked for gay marriage talking about gay marriage and putting up marriage equality signs for miles around my home county as well. I have called my Congressional senators and house rep from my area about repealing the federal DOMA and plan to oontact Mancy Pelosi’s office as well to urge that.

So, there are many people of faith both gay and straight working hard for gay rights and gay marriage and standing up for those things.

So, TANK I have a full life being practical here on earth. My faith has not stopped any of that. And, my faith has enriched my life at the same time. I am not out to prove or provide “shreds of evidence” to anyone, as I can’t. It is a very personal and individual matter within my heart. Refusal to believe over the years failed to enrich my life, (even though I had many nice things and many advantages in life) and I absolute believe in science and scientific enquiry. The top scientists through the centuries up to modern day often believed in God and believed that the most rigorous and exacting sciences time and again confirmed their belief in a God and that faith and science complimented each other. Each person accepts or doesn’t and that is OK by me.

We now know that following every last one of these prohibitions is not possible in today’s society,and to follow these prohibitions and say you are saved by your own effort is not right. God does the “saving” by giving us a right heart and mind, not by us not eating a type of food or doing something. But what is possible is that what is to be done or what can be done as one feels called to do is to be done with love, for if you do many good works, but are just going through a set of motions without love behind them, it might as well be ugly, clanging noise. It is like it were for praise by others and for credit for oneself rather for the good it does ones heart to do good deeds.

If you want fulfillment, there are thousands of years of secular ethics to get acquainted with. Perhaps, however, instead of up looking skyward and praying for guidance, you should look to your fellow human beings, and use your “god given” empathy and some practical reasoning. I’m confident that you do that anyway, so what’s the point?

Don’t you see that you can use scripture for whatever purpose you want it to be?

Jesus loves all gay and straight. Those who who verse after verse to put down other people do not know the love of Jesus who invites the weary and the heartbroken to come to him, who gives peace to those who have none. Some of my days are like that, and Jesus is the healing balm that brightens my day when I need it most.

Don’t turn away people from Jesus with your dark messages of condemnation and gloom.
Jesus said that those do for the least amongst of us do for him as well.

Gay rights are right, Godly and compassionate. Treating all equally is right, Godly and sompassionate. Meeting peoples’ needs by giving them food, clothing, befriending them when they are lonely, visiting in the hospital, giving them a hand up is right, Godly and compasionate. Giving all rights and equality so that all may benefit from a just and compassionate society is the right and Godly thing to. Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you, treating even people you don’t know with kindness, to befriend the stranger and to not “vex the foreigner,” are all part of of what is right and Godly.

And treating people kindly is what is preached in my gay-friendly and racially diverse church and if that be hocus-pocus, I could use more of it.

Do you like to eat steak and lobster? Does it not say in the Bible that eating lobster, crab and other bottom feeders is an abomination. Do you eat pork? Is that not also an abomination? If you are marrried, were you a virgin when you got married?

You know you can quote the Bible until you are blue in the face and we could quote scripture to each other forever.

When was the last time you made a living sacrifice to the Lord? Was it a bull or a sheep! Do you tithe?

Who did Jesus spend his time with? A bunch of men, a whore, tax collectors (read your Bible on where they were on the social ladder) and untouchables (lepers).

Did he not say that as you treat the least of my children so you are treating me? How much time have you spent with AIDS patients (today’s lepers)? Did he not say treat thy neighbor as thyself?

I find it interesting that in a country that proclaims a separation of church and state that they allow religious influence on their laws. The only thing that separates your country from fundamentalist Muslim countries is that they admit that their laws are influenced by their religion.

I suggest you read a book called “Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time”, written by a Biblical scholar.