Andrew Sullivan is angry and hurt about his church's hostility toward homosexuals. That's quite understandable. My own choice when I found myself in a religion-centred community, with which I had fundamental differences, was to distance myself from it and find or help create a community in which I'd belong and be valued. While I don't presume to judge Mr. Sullivan's choice, I also wouldn't presume to seek to reform the religious mores of a community in which I didn't belong as long as they weren't imposed on my life directly or indirectly. That, in general, is what I understand "Freedom of Religion" to be.

To those who want to reform their churches, I say Godspeed, you have my moral support. This however is not a battle that I'd choose to fight, which of course isn't the only valid choice here.

As for Mr. Sullivan, I wish that all the acceptance and love of his gayness that he finds in the Republican bosom will give him the solace that he needs to cope with the rejection he suffers from the Catholic Church. My heart almost goes out to him:

I know what I am inside. I do not believe that my orientation is on a par with others' lapses into lust when they also have an option for sexual and emotional life that is blessed and celebrated by the church.

Who am I to argue if he feels that his orientation is not on par with the one that I'm blessed with and which I celebrate by never letting my lust lapse?

--aslam

5:30:02 PM