The Love of Christ at the Home of a Gay Couple

What kind of Christians would stand in front of a gay couple’s house in order to convert or condemn them?

They’re well-dressed and not holding up evil Fred Phelps-like signs… but they’re destructive nonetheless, having harassed this gay couple for seven years.

Where are all the other Christians? Why are they not putting a stop to this? Where are the other Christians to teach them that God is unhappy with them?

I guess they’re too busy going to their church and learning about how to “love” everyone…

The commissary at Highfield Road Gospel Hall must have been fresh out of mind-your-own-business last night, because nine of God’s hand-picked mouthpieces allegedly found themselves outside of the home of a Leslieville gay couple, praying for the men’s unsolicited salvation.

…

“We have an authority to preach the gospel,” claims one worshipper in a video clip… captured by nearby resident Geoffrey Skelding. “We’ve been doing this seven years.”

Though the church members didn’t explicitly admit that they had chosen that particular house because it housed a gay couple, Skelding says that many street residents are convinced that’s the reason, especially based on the church group’s history of door-to-door evangelism on the street.

Dan Savage asks: “So when’s the kiss-in?”

I agree: Why not pull one of these?

(via Joe. My. God. — Thanks to P.J. for the link!)

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Alise

Are we certain that none of the neighbors speaking out against the church are Christians?
Steve

There is be more to this. The gay couple says that they weren’t specifically targeted and didn’t feel harassed:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/852019–viral-video-in-leslieville-is-not-what-it-seems?QT

In any case, the act of preaching like that in public itself is incredibly rude and even according to that article, other people living there definitely felt harassed over the years. That’s also clear from the video. He isn’t just complaining about that one incident, but about everything they did in the past.

Why can’t they just keep it in their church? And not to sound racist, but I think it’s no coincidence that about half of them are obviously immigrants.
Nordog

I can’t watch the video from this computer, but from the description let me say that I’m one Christian who thinks these folks need a fire hose turned on them

I mean really, do you actually believe that there are no Christians against this stuff?

I joined Patriot Riders a few years ago because of Fred Phelps and the wicked bile he slings. Unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to confront him and his crew.
JustSayin’

And not to sound racist, but I think it’s no coincidence that about half of them are obviously immigrants.

That’s not racist at all, Steve. It’s merely pointing out facts. To my ears, several of the accents seemed to be Caribbean, and quite a few of those nations–particularly Jamaica, Haiti, and the Bahamas–are notoriously homophobic. But more disturbingly, there seems to be an influx of anti-gay evangelicals from other parts of the world as well. I’ve read several accounts of young Russian and/or Baltic immigrants who’ve brutally attacked–and in at least one instance, killed–gays. Interestingly, from the accounts I’ve read (links to which I’ll post below), they don’t seem to be particularly religious themselves, only products of their hyperreligious upbringings. There are large populations of these groups on the West Coast, particularly in California, and they appear to be becoming more vocal–and violent.

Here are two heart-wrenching stories:

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2007/fall/the-latvian-connection

http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/russian_immigrants_t

The bitter irony of an individual emigrating to a new country in search of a better life, only to rob another of theirs is not lost on me.
Steve

Yeah, it sounds Caribbean to me too. I thought the black guy in the suit may indeed be Jamaican, but I’m only familiar with the really extreme version of that accent you hear on television.
Drew M.

I think I got BINGO on that knucklehead’s sign.

ETA: Bah, I didn’t realize that was an old Friendly Atheist post where similar jokes had already been made.
Peregrine

What we see in the video is people exercising their right to gather peacefully, and some other people coming up to them, and asking them, non-violently, to leave. Which they do. Non-violently. What we don’t see is what happened prior. And we’re left with only half the story, told in hind-sight to fill those gaps. We see none of that in the video.

From the link Steve posted, it’s entirely possible that this was a simple misunderstanding that’s been blown out of proportion.

There could well be more going on here than what we’re being told, and we should be cautious taking the video at face value. And I think it might be a good idea to avoid jumping to conclusions.

As to your other statement:

Where are all the other Christians? Why are they not putting a stop to this? Where are the other Christians to teach them that God is unhappy with them?

Hypothetically speaking, if the scenario we witnessed in the video is what the accompanying story claims it to be, I would venture that a considerable proportion of the crowd confronting the street preachers might call themselves Christian. So the answer to your question could well be “Right there.”
Jason

Look at the sign in the picture. That’s the first time I’ve seen Christians saying that Buddhist are going to hell.
Nordog

“Look at the sign in the picture. That’s the first time I’ve seen Christians saying that Buddhist are going to hell.”

Yeah, and also “potheads” which is odd because presumably to go to hell one would need to get up off the couch in Mom’s basement.
OneSTDV

If they’re explicitly targeting a specific gay couple, that is just wrong.

Look at the sign in the picture. That’s the first time I’ve seen Christians saying that Buddhist are going to hell.

Well finally, they’re being honest. i hate this enervated, “everyone is great” brand of Christianity (well at least from a logical perspective).
Matt

I’d be interested to see the Grindr results of that group.
Hermes

Read more signs. Buddhists (and a boatload of other people) are on those signs. Very sad and very nasty.

As for the ‘race’ issue, the three leaders seemed to be the lady in the light green dress, the white guy in the suit, and the ‘Jamaican’. They seemed to be a set, and were treated as individuals.

Everyone on the sidewalk seemed to be regular church members who probably wouldn’t have gone without the prompting of the leaders. Of them, they were white European, Asian, and African. Fairly representative for the group as a whole.

So, how is race or even an issue?

A few weeks ago, a couple well dressed women came by to door-to-door preach at me. When I cut them off, telling them that they really didn’t want to talk with me and I would appreciate it if they take me off their list, was I being sexist?

Now, if you want to see some discrimination, note what some of the Christians are saying in the YouTube comments about the church members. They suspect that they are members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and as such were ‘not really Christians’ but were ‘cult members’.

While I understand the technical issue they raise, if someone calls themselves something I’ve got to go on more than that someone else disagrees to not call them what they call themselves.
Hermes

As for the kiss-in idea, I’m all for it.

It might be as effective if not more to do a form of hug-in; neighbor to neighbor, side to side, arm over arm. Drive the point home that the neighborhood is really unified and won’t put up with this BS anymore.
Trudy Roberts

Nordog, your comment about the pot heads having to get off the couch first b4 going to hell cracked me up!!! 😀
I too was apalled at what I read on that guys sign, I can’t believe even feminists are being targeted WTF!!! Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, it’s when people try to push them on to others (forcefully) that issues arise. And the argument that we’re going to hell is false anyway, there is no hell or heaven or god for that matter, and i defy anyone to tell me differently. Facts people, and no the bible doesn’t count.
Dan W

Well, from that sign in the picture I’m in 8 of those groups listed as “going to Hell”. Wow. Anyone got me beat?
Kamaka

Well, from that sign in the picture I’m in 8 of those groups listed as “going to Hell”. Wow. Anyone got me beat?

Only 8?

Slacker.
Alex O’Cady

Sorry Dan, I got you beat at 13 (14 when I -very rarely – feel like getting really drunk).
Kamaka

the argument that we’re going to hell is false

False is an understatement. The concept of hell is social bullying. I might be OK with religious nonsense if they kept their rules to themselves, but no, they think they need to impose their bizarre beliefs upon others. That guy’s anti-everyone sign could be shortened to:

I AM THE AMERICAN TALIBAN
WMDKitty

I got 11. For some reason he left out satanists, and once again bisexuals were left out.
Edmond

I think I tie Alex at 14, as long as a male can consider himself a “feminist”, if he supports feminism. If not, then I’m just a 13.
qwertyuiop

Where are all the other Christians? Why are they not putting a stop to this?

Because they agree with it.
Ex Partiot

If there was a heaven or hell and these are the ones going to heaven I think spending eternity with them would be hell
muggle

Wow! That was just great! I loved it.

I don’t know if their street preaching was aimed at the gay couple or not. It hardly matters even though it was suspicious that it was apparently just a residential street so almost all the traffic would be residents so why else pick it?

Regardless, they exerciesed their free speech and so did the neighborhood. That’s the thing that gets me. When these street preachers come and start their nasty, rude shouting about repent or go to hell, why is it assumed that it’s repressing their free speech to criticize them. It ain’t. It’s exercising their own. They have the right to free speech but they don’t have the right to go unchallenged. This isn’t exactly a formalized lecture or concert that shouldn’t be disrupted. It’s standing on the street corner yelling. Disturbing the peace on the street. Good on the neighborhood for speaking up and telling them exactly how they felt. 3 cheers for getting the assholes to leave. I hate this attitude like they just have to abide listening to this screaming while trying to enjoy a peaceful afternoon at home.

Hemant, I too have to wonder why you assume none of the neighbors shutting down that nonsense were Christian. Given the numbers in our population, odds were that some of them were.

Good on them. That made my day.
Hypatia’s Daughter

Note how they defended their right to be there with “We have an authority to preach the gospel”.
This is a knotty problem for theists – they want their self-defined religious rights to supersede other people’s rights. And we are supposed to be polite when we say “Nuh-Uh!” to that.
Like the ones who knock on your door, to insult you about your religious beliefs (they told one of my friends she was going to hell because she is Catholic) but would call you rude if you told them they to go away & slammed the door.
I think I would aim my lawn sprinklers towards the sidewalk & water my lawn whenever they showed up. Maybe the whole street could do the same….
Not Guilty

Oh I got 11! Go me!
Vas

God Hates Shrimp!
Nordog said…

” …but from the description let me say that I’m one Christian who thinks these folks need a fire hose turned on them

I mean really, do you actually believe that there are no Christians against this stuff?

I joined Patriot Riders a few years ago because of Fred Phelps and the wicked bile he slings. Unfortunately I have never had the opportunity to confront him and his crew.”

Not to put to fine a point on it but… It strikes me that as vile and pernicious as Phelps et.al. are, they are speaking the “gospel truth”. If you are truly offended by the content of their message, perhaps it would behoove you to abandon your faith. Pretty much every vile thing they say is supported by christian scripture, they didn’t make that shit up, they got it from the bible. It seems pretty clear to me that god does indeed hate fags, if you don’t please conciser that perhaps you are not on the same team as your god. To be fair I understand that fictional characters do not have the capacity to hate anything however it is clear that this particular fictional character, (the christian god) was constructed with a pretty clear and unwavering set of righteous indignations which include malice toward gay people as well as a host of others, including oddly enough people who eat shrimp.

This call for you to abandon your faith goes for a lot of other religious people who don’t seem as extreme, (as Phelps et.al.) on camera but none the less subscribe to a belief system that contradicts their publicly stated and heart felt beliefs. Many of you are living a life of cognitive dissonance and I just can’t imagine how that kind of life can be anything but tormented.
If you are against “this stuff” then I think you are not really a christian anyway just some member of some social club or support group that all pretend you agree with stuff you know ain’t so.

Just saying.

V
Alex

Nordog said: “…I’m one Christian who thinks these folks need a fire hose turned on them.”

–That was exactly my thought as I watched the video. I wanna be the crotchety old guy in the neighborhood who just walks out, charges the hose, and cleans the riffraff off the street. Every day. For seven years. Of course, I doubt they would keep showing up for that kind of treatment. I’d have to buy a longer hose.
Jason

I only have 8. But 9 if you include that I like how Buddhism is the only real non-violent religion and how polite and tolorent they are.
Nordog

Vas,

I reject the exegesis you share with Phelps, but then I’m neither a fundamentalist nor an evangelical.

Apparently you’re the former; not sure about the latter.
James

The game, read the sign on the guys back.
Score one for each thing you are, score -1 for each think your not, subtract what you are not from what you are, and thats your score.

Mine.
21 total items, 12 of them I am not, final score, 9.

Bonus, how many of these have I been called. 20.
Camus Dude

How the fuck did you get nine? I’m -3!
peregrine

Fornicators: +1
Homosexual: -1
liars and thieves: not compulsively, but who among us hasn’t had their youthful indiscretions. +2
Masturbator: Not that it’s anyone’s business, but… +1
Obama voters: I’m not. But only because I’m Canadian. If I were registered to vote in the US back in ’08, I would have been. +1
Buddhist: Haven’t been “feeling it” lately, but we’re playing for points here. +1
Dirty dancers, Hindus, gangster rappers, Muslims, drunkards: -4
Feminists: +1
Immodest women: I’m a dude. So no. -1
Democrats, liberals, evolutionists, atheist: Again, Canadian, so one only applies by association. +4
Pothead: -1
Sodomite: Depends on how you define sodomy. -1, for most colloquial definitions.

Unless my math is wrong, I’m at +3. And a few of those are a bit of a stretch.

I’m a little ambivalent about this scoring mechanism.
Nordog

“Immodest women: I’m a dude. So no. -1”

Yeah, but do you get credit if you LIKE immodest women?