Christians that get it

[docwebster]

CLEVELAND -- Joining the animated fray, the United Church of Christ today (Jan. 24) said that Jesus' message of extravagant welcome extends to all, including SpongeBob Squarepants - the cartoon character that has come under fire for allegedly holding hands with a starfish.

United Church Of Christ are the folks that had the "church bouncers" commercial that was refused airplay by CBS and NBC because two homosexual couples were shown.. for a grand total of about one and a half seconds. Tops.

By the way, yes I said Christians, not Xtians or any of those other snide, bullshit ways of referring to them. Don't like it? Fuck you.

Comments

[stypica.livejournal.com]

not sure why anyone would be pissed about "Xtian" (using it, or not using it)- as I learned from Neil Gaiman

IXOYE is explained as the Greek word for “fish” and is also an acronym. I=JESUS, X=CHRIST, O=GOD, Y=SON, E=SAVIOR.

That little fish symbol Christians use? there's a reason for it.

[audioboy.livejournal.com]

While I don't consider myself a Christian anymore -- I'm somewhere between agnostic and Unitarian these days -- I belong to a UCC church in the Boston area because it's such a great bunch of people.

Anyway, several years ago, when we were working to become an Open and Affirming (ONA) church -- that's one that ratifies an official statement publicly and into its by-laws saying that it welcomes and affirms LGBT persons -- we used the fish symbol as an example of why we needed an ONA statement.

In the early days of the church, because Christians were misunderstood and persecuted, the symbol of the fish was placed on or near the door to one's home to let other Christians know it was a welcoming place for them. For this same reason, we argued, the church needed to show that it welcomed LGBT persons. What a lot of people in our church didn't understand was that gay people can't walk by a church and know they are welcome. It wasn't until we had guest speakers in that they even heard about the kinds of horrible church experiences many LGBT people have had.

We passed that statement in 1998 and finally got a sign up outside the church saying we were ONA. Since that time almost every new person who has joined our church has said they came in because of that sign.

I'm glad to see the UCCs new program, "God Is Still Speaking", is working. Even if you're not a Christian, I would strongly encourage you to check out the UCC site (www.ucc.org) and drop them a note. In light of what happened in the most recent election, there is a great need to show that not everyone agrees with the current conservative philosophy embraced by many. Let them know you appreciate the effort they're making.

[stypica.livejournal.com]

just goes to show - good people are good people.