Church cancels memorial for gay Navy vet

[Hotsauce McGilacuty]

[quote author=Ron_NYC link=topic=9323.msg495690#msg495690 date=1186935371]
That's something else I really can't even begin to understand.
It's like me getting upset over not being permitted to join the Klu Klux Klan.

Is there a homosexual Catholic around here that could explain this to us?

[/quote]

im kind of a homosexual Catholic, so i'll explain.

not all churches discriminate against gays these days, i think its actually rare, in fact where i live, they encourage the gay community to attend. my ex, whos uncle was gay, and died of aids, was really big on his church, he was catholic.

im assuming, in this incident, its because the southern churches are still old school.

i think this dude wouldnt want his funeral at this church, i think its more his family.
and forget the fact that hes gay, what abut the fact that he fought for our country to have such rights to religion and what not, and this is how they repay him? total crap.

[Ron_NYC]

[quote author=Hotsauce McGilacuty link=topic=9323.msg495737#msg495737 date=1186943073]
im kind of a homosexual Catholic, so i'll explain.

not all churches discriminate against gays these days, i think its actually rare, in fact where i live, they encourage the gay community to attend. my ex, whos uncle was gay, and died of aids, was really big on his church, he was catholic.

im assuming, in this incident, its because the southern churches are still old school.

i think this dude wouldnt want his funeral at this church, i think its more his family.
and forget the fact that hes gay, what abut the fact that he fought for our country to have such rights to religion and what not, and this is how they repay him? total crap.
[/quote]
Yea, the whole thing is pretty disgusting. To any decent person at least.
Glad to hear that it's rare though. I mean, they're actually asking gays to come in now? I didn't know that!

And I'm not going on my usual anti-God rant.
I think that it's great when the church has a positive effect on people....but I get lost when I see people being subjected to treatment like this.
It's like staying with an abusive spouse to deal with this, from a church you're a member of. :?

When people use religion as an excuse to be hateful, I would expect the theists to be more upset about it then me. 
That's making a mockery of what you believe in............in my opinion.

[Hotsauce McGilacuty]

[quote author=Ron_NYC link=topic=9323.msg495741#msg495741 date=1186943606]
Yea, the whole thing is pretty disgusting. To any decent person at least.
Glad to hear that it's rare though. I mean, they're actually asking gays to come in now? I didn't know that!

And I'm not going on my usual anti-God rant.
I think that it's great when the church has a positive effect on people....but I get lost when I see people being subjected to treatment like this.
It's like staying with an abusive spouse to deal with this, from a church you're a member of. :?

When people use religion as an excuse to be hateful, I would expect the theists to be more upset about it then me. 
That's making a mockery of what you believe in............in my opinion.
[/quote]

i know what you mean, it makes religion look horrible. i could be wrong, but im almost positive that the pope has made a statement encouraging catholic churches to accept gays.

last season of the Real World was filmed here in denver, and i was glad that it showed the gay dude going to a gay friendly christian church.

if i was from texas i would be so embarrassed.

[Ron_NYC]

[quote author=Hotsauce McGilacuty link=topic=9323.msg495751#msg495751 date=1186945578]
i know what you mean, it makes religion look horrible. i could be wrong, but im almost positive that the pope has made a statement encouraging catholic churches to accept gays.

last season of the Real World was filmed here in denver, and i was glad that it showed the gay dude going to a gay friendly christian church.

if i was from texas i would be so embarrassed.
[/quote]


Nope. This pope is known to be more conservative. He's supposed to 'bring the church back to old-fashioned values' and whut not.

Pope Reaffirms View Opposing Gay Marriage and Abortion

I couldn't find anything that had his opinion on gays in church, but going by how traditional, and conservative he's supposed to be, I'm gonna guess he ain;t wit it.

This is the stuff that I get on my rants about. When people use religion to promote values, and it impedes progress.

It's one thing when you don't agree with something.
Then you don't do it. Everything's fine....world keeps spinning.
When you want others to live a certain way because of YOUR beliefs, that's when it gets dangerous.

[bbc]

[quote author=Hotsauce McGilacuty link=topic=9323.msg495751#msg495751 date=1186945578]
i know what you mean, it makes religion look horrible. i could be wrong, but im almost positive that the pope has made a statement encouraging catholic churches to accept gays.

last season of the Real World was filmed here in denver, and i was glad that it showed the gay dude going to a gay friendly christian church.

if i was from texas i would be so embarrassed.
[/quote]

I don't think it's just a southern problem. I'm catholic and (occasionally) attend a gay friendly church. I also live in Alabama. We also have a gay friendly Methodist church and a gay non-denominational church in the town I live.

Any church, regardless of its geographical position, is going to do whatever its members allow it to do. I'm pretty sure if all the members of this church had truly cared about him then they would have forced the church to hold his service there, as any good true christian would do. I think they forgot the whole casting stones portion of the bible.

[Ron_NYC]

[quote author=bbc link=topic=9323.msg495783#msg495783 date=1186951183]
I don't think it's just a southern problem. I'm catholic and (occasionally) attend a gay friendly church. I also live in Alabama. We also have a gay friendly Methodist church and a gay non-denominational church in the town I live.

Any church, regardless of its geographical position, is going to do whatever its members allow it to do. I'm pretty sure if all the members of this church had truly cared about him then they would have forced the church to hold his service there, as any good true christian would do. I think they forgot the whole casting stones portion of the bible.
[/quote]

[charmi]

[quote author=Ron_NYC link=topic=9323.msg495254#msg495254 date=1186886376]
Wow. It's come to this, huh?
Gotta love that church. Love for all.
"Simons said the church believes homosexuality is a sin, and it would have appeared to endorse that lifestyle if the service had been held there."   
Disgusting.

And it's an AP story, so now the whole world knows how bigoted these people are. Good.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070811/ap_on_re_us/gay_funeral

Church cancels memorial for gay Navy vet
By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer
Sat Aug 11, 5:45 AM ET

ARLINGTON, Texas - A megachurch canceled a memorial service for a Navy veteran 24 hours before it was to start because the deceased was gay.

Officials at the nondenominational High Point Church knew that Cecil Howard Sinclair was gay when they offered to host his service, said his sister, Kathleen Wright. But after his obituary listed his life partner as one of his survivors, she said, it was called off.

"It's a slap in the face. It's like, 'Oh, we're sorry he died, but he's gay so we can't help you,'" she said Friday.

Wright said High Point offered to hold the service for Sinclair because their brother is a janitor there. Sinclair, who served in the first Gulf War, died Monday at age 46 from an infection after surgery to prepare him for a heart transplant.

The church's pastor, the Rev. Gary Simons, said no one knew Sinclair, who was not a church member, was gay until the day before the Thursday service, when staff members putting together his video tribute saw pictures of men "engaging in clear affection, kissing and embracing."

Simons said the church believes homosexuality is a sin, and it would have appeared to endorse that lifestyle if the service had been held there.

"We did decline to host the service — not based on hatred, not based on discrimination, but based on principle," Simons told The Associated Press. "Had we known it on the day they first spoke about it — yes, we would have declined then. It's not that we didn't love the family."

Simons said the decision had nothing to do with the obituary. He said the church offered to pay for another site for the service, made the video and provided food for more than 100 relatives and friends.

"Even though we could not condone that lifestyle, we went above and beyond for the family through many acts of love and kindness," Simons said.

Wright called the church's claim about the pictures "a bold-faced lie." She said she provided numerous family pictures of Sinclair, including some with his partner, but said none showed men kissing or hugging.

The 5,000-member High Point Church was founded in 2000 by Simons and his wife, April, whose brother is Joel Osteen, well-known pastor of the 38,000-member Lakewood Church in Houston. Now High Point meets in a 432,000-square-foot facility in Arlington, near Dallas.

Wright said relatives declined the church's offer to hold the service at a community center because they felt it was an inappropriate venue. It ultimately was held at a funeral home, but the cancellation still lingered in some minds, she said.



[/quote]

Now THAT is f'd up.  He was good enough to fight for Our Country and the sick ass church can't even give him a proper burial?  Sick bastards!