Black Christians Struggle Over N.C. Gay Marriage Ban [View all]

[brooklynite]

NPR:

North Carolina's African-American voters could be crucial in Tuesday's vote over the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions. Blacks make up a little more than 20 percent of the state's population, and some polls show they strongly favor a ban.

While activists on both sides make phone calls and put up yard signs, many African-Americans are struggling with the issue inside their churches and homes.

Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Spearman is pastor of an African Methodist Episcopal Zion church in the town of Hickory, in North Carolina's Appalachian foothills. Slender and 61, he's a man who chooses his words carefully.

"Many African-Americans — and it would be very true of my own family of origin — have what I would consider homophobic ideations," he says.

Here's a simple solution to their qualms: Let people "live in sin" now, and they can let God sort it out in the afterlife...