As a child raised in a nice, small-town church, I was taught that personal redemption and loving one's neighbor was the good news to be spread throughout all the world. As I grew up, I realized that many church leaders were the worst violators of that Christian agenda. I saw the teaching of hatred, moral leaders caught up in vice, church-led persecutions of undesirables, superstitions leading to the deaths of innocent men and women, and torture in name of God, until it became clear that the spirit of Satan had overtaken these institutions. In my crisis of faith, I decided no one had anything to teach me unless their wisdom and compassion exceeded my own. I came to see that what people believe God to be is actually a mirror of their own heart and soul. I have since arrived at a place of personal peace in finding a spiritual path that unquestionably offers me teachings to enhance my compassion and wisdom. I have no problem with Christians who keep to the good news of personal redemption and loving one's neighbors. The problem is the Christian crazies who act out their self righteous hatred on others. These bible thumping fundies even hate and mock denominations that actually live up to Christian ideals, such as Quakers (Society of Friends), welcoming congregations and the Unitarians If fundies simply practiced their sins in the privacy of their own churches, no problem, the maddening thing is that they relentlessly shove their hatred down the throats of their neighbors and try to sway governments to join in and make laws respecting their unChristian brutality.
When AIDS first appeared, largely among gay men, Christian haters preached God's vengeance, while other Christians organized to help the afflicted. This is the modern version of the parable of the Good Samaritan. It became clear very quickly who were the compassionate children of God, and who were the angels of darkness posing as angels of light. By their fruit we came to know who is who. Now they're at it again. They are fighting to deny same gender couples the sacrament of marriage, using gross distortions of Bible quotations, and logic twisted beyond repair. The glaring omission from their rants is Christian compassion. Christian groups who fight against equality for all Americans are constantly at work spewing their evil and trying to deceive the very elect of God. As with the AIDS crisis, when some churches acted with compassion while others postured and spread hatred, so today some churches recognize that to bless the union of any two people who wish to commit their lives to one another is the Christian thing to do.
The California Supreme Court rightly ruled in favor of same gender marriage. Our constitution begins with a fundamental principle that the law must be applied equally to all citizens, and in the absence of a compelling common good exception, no one nor group may be denied the benefits of the law. It's a curious paradox that if we accept the fundies contention that marriage is a religious institution then it ought not be part of our state law. Any and all California citizens must ally themselves with pro-marriage forces, and work to stop the constitutional amendment to deny marriage to a whole group of families, many of whom are raising normal, healthy children.
HATE GROUPS: These are the primary hate groups under the Christian banner. We hope that other Christians see the evil in their agendas and shun them and speak out against them.
Westboro Baptist Church - You may object to listing Fred Phelps first as he is clearly the ugliest example of Christian hatred, but it's in keeping with the tradition of fundamentalist church leaders using the most extreme examples of gay people as proof of their hateful rhetoric. Anyone who buys into this group's message of God's hatred, may as well go all the way and attend Satanic worship services. 
Focus on the Family - James Dobson has created a TV personality of himself as an expert on what's good for families, while working to destroy families that don't conform to his narrowly defined family group. He makes no pretense of his vicious intolerance, indeed, he calls the assertion of equal rights and the support of gay families in California and Massachusetts "lunacy". It's fascinating in a perverse way to see his tortured twisting of both scripture and facts. The end result of his work is to vilify loving parents, intensify intolerance in schools for young gays and children of gay parents, and the ripping apart of loving families. Perhaps he should rename his group, Crosshairs on the Famiy.
The Catholic Church should know better, as the Catholic church at one time in its history performed same sex union ceremonies. The literature still exists, and those who say it did not are either uninformed, misinformed, or outright liars. The plus side is that Catholic Charities is a shining example of Christian compassion in practice. Moreover, there are compassionate dissenters who work to change the situation from within.
Family Research Council - Tony Perkins is behind the group whose statement on homosexuality asserts without any logical justification or appeal to actual social or medical science data the following: "Family Research Council believes that homosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large, and can never be affirmed. It is by definition unnatural, and as such is associated with negative physical and psychological health effects. While the origins of same-sex attractions may be complex, there is no convincing evidence that a homosexual identity is ever something genetic or inborn." This is a fine example of the fundamental principle of propaganda that if you repeat a lie often enough, no matter how outrageous, it will come to be believed. Curiously, their own statement on the structure of family, "The family should be respected as a largely autonomous sphere of self-government, not as something inferior to the civil government."
Traditional Values Coalition - Lou Sheldon has made a career of injuring gay people every chance he gets. One wonders what goes on in the mind of a man who spends all of his time obsessed with the sexual practices of strangers. His nightmares must be bizarre beyond imagination. His work has been to deny gay people rights in housing, jobs, family creation, and personal freedom. The times I've heard his hysterical, distressed voice, made my skin crawl, a normal response to anything creepy. The problem with "traditional values" is the lack of evaluation of their rightness. Our value should be based on kindness, fairness and equality, instead of outdated morality based on prejudice, ignorance and inhumane intentions.
R.J. RushdoonyChristian Reconstructionists - is the most prominent of the hateful billy-club Bible buffoons who think only a brutal, homicidal religion is approved by God. Like so many other Christian destructionists, they project their own bias and evil onto others, and seek to punish them as a way of expiating their own well deserved guilt. Here is a clear example of "wolves in sheep's clothing."There are an enormous number of anti-gay groups, far too numerous to list here. Writing about them at all is a nauseating experience, but we've go to keep an eye on hate groups so we are ready to cope effectively with their terrible agendas. There are also other groups such as "Religious Right Watch" who help compile information on the haters.
