But, for Mr. Corvino, I have a big issue with you comparing the christian “truth” to the equality “truth”. Christianity is a lie and anyone who actually examines it, devoid of a faith that skews reality, comes to that conclusion. Equality is a universal truth you cannot argue with.

So saying both sides want the other to accept their version of the truth is unfair because one version is unacceptable! This is much more one sided than you present it as…they are wrong and we are right. I agree with the rest of your argument, how unsettling such truth is to them (the comfort they get from their faith of this is the very reason they have faith, BTW) and how important it is to get the point across so their children will not suffer.

But implying that I have to work to accept their version of truth..wars, hate, murder, rape, castration, patriarchal power, sin, salvation and an imaginary friend dilutes your argument.

In fact there aren’t even sides here. There is one side: the truth about equality. The evangelicals are on the wrong side and as much as you speak to them and try to be friendly, you shouldn’t let them convince you for a second that they have something truthful to say…because their arguments all come from a viewpoint that is delusional and insane.

Unless of course you believe in the tooth fairy, Zeus and the flying spaghetti monster. If anyone thinks their “god” is different from any of those fairy tales, I suggest a doctor is needed to help you.

“Society, government, business, etc. will NOT “do the right thing” unless FORCED to do so.”

I had the same issue with Mr. Corvino’s article.

I agree that we should not be afraid to use all of the legitimate levers at our disposal to advance LGBT equality.

At first people will grudgingly change because they are compelled to do so by the law. In time, many of these folks will forget why they objected in the first place and will simply move on. This has been my experience in Canada, and I suspect, it is also true elsewhere.

Acceptance does not happen quickly or smoothly, but it always seems to need a kick start.

Push hard and push persistently. It is the only way you will change your country.

“Freedom requires religion like a slug requires salt” – Pat Condell, British comedian

Faith is not understood well in fundamentalism. That is why they grasp at any science that does happen to coincide with scripture and vehemently oppose any that conflicts with their sacred old words. Faith floats on top of science regardless of whether the facts match or not. Faith is part of spirituality.

Dominionism is a hidden agenda. Most fundamentalists have never heard the word. Most will accept it as a valid goal. Few can foresee the horrors it would unleash. It is the link that has fused fundamentalists to the Republican party. Charlatan and control freaks exploit dominionism which is why over the past 25 years the Republican party has gone insane. Dominionism means gaining control of a nation through the political process and then install biblical laws. Substitute the biblical with any other dogma and the process can work. The Nazis gained control of Germany using dominionism.

Gay civil rights will require court action to force it’s acceptance. If black civil rights were decided by public referendum many states would still be segregated AND their mindset would be frozen in a 1950′s mode. It took a president and federal law to make the change. Luckily once exposed to secular truth, youth will gravitate towards it and hence change occurs.

It isn’t fear that you see in the fundamentalists’ reaction to inclusiveness. Only hatred that some demon driven group has stepped into their path. Never does it occur to fundamentalists that if they lived lives beaming with Christ’s love that they would grow. Instead we see demonic control freak policies which ignore the byproduct of dominionism: Bush.

I don’t share this language, so I’m not a good person to try to explore what Bishop Robinson was attempting to say. But I don’t think it was anything as banal as a demand for “approval” or “affirmation” from evangelicals, as Mr Corvino appears to believe. Bishop Robinson does not think that our differences with Evangelicals are going to melt away when the scales drop from their eyes, and the Evangelicals realise that we are, as the badges used to say, “good as you.” Rather, he is appealing for a much deeper (a profoundly Christian) kind of reconciliation: a “warm embrace of our differences,” when we admit that those differences are not going to go away. The first step towards achieving that kind of reconciliation, it seems to me, is to stop trying to convert the ‘Other’ to our own point of view. And that goes for both sides.

As soon as a clergy person asks that question, they have to realize that “these people” are human beings. The questions of whether or not to treat those people as humans, and whether or not to minister to them, both become moot.