You have to love the reference to MacAlister at Gezor (sic). Actually Robert MacAlister conducted such a poor job at Gezer that he eliminated any possiblity of properly dating the well there. He thought a gate from the time of Solomon was a castle from the time of the Maccabeans and his most impressive find, a calendar, was pulled from his trash heap by a tourist.

As for the ‘vomit inducing’ finds there, none were of a homosexual nature. There seemed to be evidence of a sex-cult and perhaps child sacrifice. But considering that MacAlister destroyed the integrity of the site and got most other things wrong, it can’t be taken as gospel.

So Jack Chick just threw the Gezer stuff in there to frighten and confuse. But, then again, Chick isn’t known for his integrity.

I was a brand-new Christian, secretly struggling with gay feelings and looking for something — anything — that would shed a little light and hope. Instead, this was all I found at our local Christians bookstore — a nasty, negative, stereotyped, comic book presentation of “gays” and their “agenda”. I was hurt and disgusted.

Why on Earth would Christians portray us in this way? Why would they want to stir up fear and prejudice? Didn’t they know we didn’t look like that? Didn’t they know they we were like them, that went to the same church and sat in the same pews? Didn’t they know we loved Jesus, too?

Didn’t they know that we were not out to overthrow the government, recruit their kids, criminalize Christianity or destroy their families? What was this awful “agenda” they kept talking about?

I was so appalled by this tract that I decided there should be a ministry of some sort — to educate the church on what gay people really were like and to reach out to gays who were searching for God. This tract inspired me to create something different.

That’s how EXIT was formed and why we hosted the first conference where EXODUS was born. We wanted to present an educated, fair and compassionate picture of gay people. I thought we had made some progress.

Now, sadly, EXODUS seems to be promoting this same reactionary view of gays as a dangerous, evil menace — with an “agenda” — a threat worse than terrorism, a cancer to be cut out. Now, EXODUS applauds the inflammatory rhetoric we tried to calm. It’s “Chick Tracts” all over again. And very few Christians, with the notable exception of Warren and some readers of this blog, are speaking out against it. I, like Warren, am sad, perplexed and disappointed.

Keep in mind that Marty’s view of gays and christianity are not the same views that are held by all christians or ex gays.

And ultimately that’s what the gay agenda is all about. Because without sin, there is no guilt. Without guilt, there is no repentance. Without repentance, there is no salvation. And without salvation, there awaits an eternity of torment.

I’ve rarely seen a Christian lay out the heart of Christianity so succinctly before, and it proves what I’ve been saying all along:

Christianity is a guilt-based religion. Christians want you to feel really, really guilty and broken. That way, you will keep coming back to church to get the “fix” (and put donations in the plate).

It’s no small wonder that Dan Barker said, “A Christian is a person who cuts you with a knife and then tries to sell you a bandage.”

Living under superstitious notions of “sin” and perpetual guilt is harmful, and thus Christianity is harmful. Marty, you might want to take note that your religion is falling in popularity. Perhaps it’s because the core of your religion is harmful?

Generally we like to think that our compatriots (for want of a better term) are reasonable. Sure they have their beliefs and sometimes they share them in a bit of a forceful way, but they aren’t hateful bigots. Surely there is a limit to which they would go.

Suppose the situation were turned around. Suppose some gay activist advocated something extreme. Something like supporting a law that jailed any preacher that preached against homosexuality.

Well I know that we would all (gay, straight, and etc.) think that was wrong and would speak out against it. But imagine if HRC and GLAAD and Stonewall Democrats and Log Cabin Republicans all started throwing rallies supporting this activist.

I would find that perplexing. Because I believe that the gay community really isn’t anti-Christian and supports freedom of speech.

Just as Warren (if I may so presume) believes that anti-gays aren’t really homophobic and are not motivated by hate.

So when he hears what is clearly extremist speech – like that offered by Sally Kern – he thinks it is outside the norm. It doesn’t reflect the attitudes of the Christians or the conservatives with whom he hangs. Surely naming railing about how homosexuality is worse than terrorism and how it will destroy society in decades isn’t acceptable. That’s wacky hateful stuff.

So yeah, it’s perplexing when you discover that there are people who run to Kern’s defense and no one from the conservative camp is willing to join you in condemning her words. Those news sources who Warren works with joined the “celebrate Sally’s free speech” bandwagon without a peep about the evil content of her speech.

I suspect Warren found out a bit more about his compatriots through this. I think that perhaps more of them are motivated by hatred than he thought. I think that perhaps fewer of them really believe in loving the homosexual than he thought. I suspect that Warren was surprised that so very many anti-gays put the culture war and “opposing the homosexual agenda” above being good and decent people.

And that can be very disappointing and perplexing.

but that’s just my guess