Love. Just Love.
*deep breath*
I am a Christian, a follower of Jesus, a believer of grace through Jesus’s crucifixion on the cross.
I believe that I am asked to love people and hate the sin in myself.
I believe in the separation of church and state, a construct that protects my rights to worship and live as I choose, a freedom I take very seriously despite the fact that the majority of people in this country believe similarly to me.
I believe in social justice, equal rights for all people. All people. All of them.
I believe that religion historically and in the present has done nearly as much to drive people from a relationship with God as it has done to empower and nurture it. I believe that when we begin to create a hierarchy of sin and link it to other aspects of society, we are treading on dangerous ground. I believe that church leaders who hold on to personal addictions to substances, pornography, lust, gambling, lying, cursing, adultery, all the while openly condemning the choices of others and using those choices as a way to withhold certain civil rights and freedoms, inflict a spiritual wound on those around them and on the faiths they represent.
Today is a good day. Today is a very good day.
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12
Awesome post. 🙂 I haven’t been a part of organized religion since I was a child, but I was raised Catholic, and I do believe in God. That said, my “connection” with religion ends there, and I firmly believe in the separation of church and state – and I also believe that if there truly is a god or another higher power, he/she/they won’t give a crap who we have sex with or who we marry, so long as we’re good people. Today was indeed awesome. 🙂
Very nicely stated, Amy. It was indeed a good day. Many thanks to those who fought long and hard for that day to become a reality.