Comments for An open letter to my centrist-ecclesiast friends at http://www.pres-outlook.com , comment 1 to 2 out of 2 comments http://www.pres-outlook.com Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:40:09 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.pres-outlook.com/opinion3/editorials3/7808-an-open-letter-to-my-centrist-ecclesiast-friends.html#comment-4096 Thanks for the thoughtful and useful commentary. No doubt those on the "non-progressive" side will also find a few things to quibble about, but I feel a need to comment on just one item. Regarding "compromising" on "sexual morality," especially as it relates to the two-thirds world struggling with sexually transmitted diseases: Perhaps I have missed something, but as in the USA most of what I hear in complaint from conservatives in other places is all about the homosexuality, while the crisis of AIDS in those places is primarily a heterosexual issue (made worse by economic conditions that tend to separate families). "Unsafe sex" could in fact easily be identified as "having sex with men." Gay men are doubly at risk, of course. But if one somehow believes that fact reflect God's disapproval, then would one not also be forced to conclude that lesbians have God's special blessing? Anyone who doubts that those who support openness to gay and lesbian Christians have a pro-marriage and pro-morality agenda should read David Myers' and Letha Scanzoni's excellent book "What God Has Joined Together?: A Christian Case for Gay Marriage." - David Carothers Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:20:15 +0100 http://www.pres-outlook.com/opinion3/editorials3/7808-an-open-letter-to-my-centrist-ecclesiast-friends.html#comment-4095 Jack has given us a good trilogy, which reads best when all three pieces are read together in context. I would add one item to his words to his liberal-progressive friends, and that is the unfortunate phenomenon of "left-wing bigotry." We all know what a "right-wing bigot" is. Some on the left may be surprised to learn that they practice the same sort of bigotry toward those on the right. That's what scares some of us. When such persons are given enough power, "local option" will soon become mandated gay ordination, in the same way that local option on women's ordination eventually became mandated. The center of the church should take this potential scenario seriously. - Tom Hobson Mon, 18 Aug 2008 06:09:18 +0100