THT: The Worst Kind of Harm

I don't work tomorrow... which is why I am writing a slew of posts. Anyway...

I was thinking how it seems the church and members of the church find assurance in the fact that they say they "love our gay brothers and sisters" and are "against bullying of any kind." I mean, those of course are good things... but personally, the church that screams "GOD HATES GAYS!" does so much less harm than my church does. The LDS church has been involved in the worst kind of harm.

Here is what I mean. As gay people, or as any person really, we can avoid a church that preaches hate against gays. We don't have to have anything to do with them. They can think what they want and make whatever judgments they want and the most it can do is hurt our feelings. They can deny membership and service and friendship to us, but that is it.

When a church steps outside its congregation, however, and actively seeks to prevent non-affiliated people from attaining the level of happiness they seek, when it goes beyond the borders of it's constituency to prevent people from attaining their dreams and goals for their lives, THAT is harmful in the worst way. The church has reached its hand into the lives of people who don't even have any kind of affiliation with it.

If I had to choose between a church existing that actively spoke about hating gays and bullied them on the streets and a church that claimed to love gays and not bully, but actively participated in taking away homosexual's rights and ensuring that they remain second-class citizens, I'd choose the former. At least then you would be in a relationship legitimized by society that you could depend on to be a rock in the stormy waters of hate and prejudice. At least then you could still move forward knowing that the laws of your country protect you equally as much as they protect the bullies. The church is just a bully disguised as your friendly neighbor who "loves you, but hates your choices." I don't think anyone should feel relieved that the church made a statement against bullying and for love. It's by their fruits ye shall know them... and lets be honest, it is because of the church that thousands of couples are treated like second-class citizens.