what are we doing?

I had the most interesting conversation yesterday. A small group of people were gathered and the subject of the movie Brokeback Mountain came up. I was intrigued with the dialogue. The persons assembled were mostly--but not all--'Christians' and they are the ones who reacted the strongest. There was, believe it or not, an actual cowboy present, albeit a retired one.

Clearly this is a controversial subject. Duh. And going to a movie that is explicitly sexual and exploitive may be a bad idea...whatever... we each must decide according to how God leads us. But our conversation soon shifted to the 'sinners' themselves.... you know--the homosexuals. Them.

Once again I was so embarrassed by the words coming from the mouths of my 'fellow Christians', I was looking for a chair to hide under.

I made the mistake of saying, "But perhaps [the movie] could give us some insight and understanding into the pain some people have to endure... help us to have compassion... I mean, after all... we all have struggles within ourselves."

I was met with frowns and sneers and one church-going, professed 'Christian' woman said this: "It's not our job to condone sin. It's our job to point it out, make people accountable, take a stand against it."

Not so sure how this responded to my comment. Except it seemed like more of the same. Turning away from our own pain and issues and staring long and hard at everyone else's.

Through all of this conversation the cowboy stayed silent. Kept his head down so I couldn't even see his eyes under the brim of his hat.

Finally someone asked him, "So...Del," (of course his name is Del) "What do you make of all of this?"

He lifted his eyes ever so slightly, scratched at his jaw, looked around the room, and muttered, "They're just a couple o' queers."

So there you go.