My post on a Yahoo! news story "Many blacks shrug off Obama's new view on gays"

[Tarheel_Dem]

13. "These people have been made fools by religion."

So you think it proper to condemn one type of bigotry, while displaying your own intolerance for religious people? As an AA myself, many people in my own family are still struggling with this issue, and for them it is quite a serious one.

While I understand and share your frustration, it's going to take time and education to disabuse people of the notion that they should be guided by personal religious belief when it comes to public policy matters. Having left the church eons ago, I have no trouble distinguishing the two. Attitudes are changing, slowly but surely, but I don't think that belittling people for the beliefs they've been taught from birth, is the way to change hearts and minds. As a matter of fact, I think it will have the exact reverse effect.

All that being said, I can tell you that even within my own family of eleven brothers & sisters, we're about evenly divided on the issue of gay marriage. Those of us who believe it's a civil rights matter, pure and simple, are working to change the minds of the others. This, in no way, means that I think you or anyone else should tolerate bigotry of any sort, but we should also refrain from using one type of bigotry to condemn another. Peace.