@mesquite,
Two wrongs don't make a right...
Yes I was once a fundamentalist... so how does my stupidity cancel out someone else's? Two stupid people do not add up to a right person.
I might say that it was all the scriptures of unconditional love that became incongruent with the scriptures of hate.
In choosing the biblical road of love I had to deny the biblical road of hate.
This is not religion I questioned, it was a lack of empathy for humanity when all the dust settled.
I always clung to the verses of love even while trying to make sense of the verses of hate.
I was also not in the closet I simply put my desires on hold. Meaning I would never have criticized a homosexual lifestyle any more than a straight one. Promiscuity and decadence is not exclusive to one or the other lifestyle.
I guess you could still call me conservative but not the hypocritical Tea Party type.
Do you really think I was waving "god hates fags" signs and denying marriage licenses to gays when I was a Christian?
Never... I knew the Bible had serious problems and even when I believed it was "ALL" the inspired world of God I had serious doubts that caused me to moderate my message of "salvation"... I just figured the hate scriptures could not be literal and something was lost in translation meaning they could never stand on their own.
Is there truth in the Bible? Very little.
Was I blinded by religion at one point? Yes... Did I use my blindness to deny love, tolerance and acceptance of others and their beliefs? NO. Out and proud gay Christian preachers are like woman and poor people who are republicans. It took a while but eventually the charade became clear and I can thank the Tea Party and my patient, loving, reserved, atheist, Puerto Rican boyfriend at the time for making that charade crystal clear.
I was never on the verge of becoming a bigot...