Proud of My Minister

Today, the minister of our PCUSA church preached a sermon about tolerance. It started out with some horrifying statistics about what the American culture, age 16-29, thinks about Christians:

1. Anti-Homosexual – this is toward the person not the deed – 96%
2. Judgmental – 87%
3. Hypocritical – 81%
4. Sheltered
5. Politically Motivated
6. Insecure

So, our minister preached about what it means to the future growth of the church that the "golden demographic" thinks Christians are so intolerant. I was proud to hear him raise this issue in our church of the frozen chosen. I believe that the vast majority of members of our particular congregation are open-minded, but we very much keep it to ourselves. I'm not sure that silent tolerance is a whole lot better than intolerance.

Throughout the sermon, I couldn't stop thinking about Matthew Shepard. He's the Wyoming college student that was tied to a fence and beaten to death in 1998. He was also one of my best friends from grade school to high school. I still get sick to my stomach and ferociously angry whenever I think about him being killed.

I'm proud of my parents' church in they consistently conservative state of Wyoming. For a while, they hosted the local PFLAG meetings, despite threats of violence and property damage. I'm also proud of the city of Casper, where they live, for electing an openly homosexual mayor in 2005 - another high school friend of mine, Guy Padgett.

I can also say that I'm a little more proud of my church now, too.

What Year Do You Belong In?

My wife was 1983... I'm not sure (being younger than she) how I ended up here:

You Belong in 1956

You're fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

What Year Do You Belong In?