I have actually deleted some of my own posts after posting them here because I felt they were too controversial. I am an atheist, and a lot of times (at least this year anyway) I hold back on many of my opinions about religion. I do that because a lot of people on this forum are Christians and are good, loving people.
Besides, of all the LGBT Rights groups, this one is on the front lines in the fight for LGBT equality. The Equality Rides and the American Family Outings have given me a deep respect for Soulforce. If it takes Christianity to open the doors to communication with our opponents, then I say go for it.
That's why I sometimes feel like I need to keep my viewpoint in the closet in this forum so I don't drive anybody away or hurt the cause of Soulforce. After all, this is a Christian based organization founded by a Christian leader.
So maybe I need to chill. I don't know. Society in general thinks we atheists need to keep our mouths shut because we upset way too many people. But, like it or not, religion is coming under greater scrutiny in America. Just as segregation of African Americans did in the 50s and homosexuality is undergoing today, a rapidly growing number of non-believers are challenging the old beliefs of their ancestors. Some of the best selling books of 2007 were "The God Delusion," "God is NOT Great," and "The End of Faith." Right now in theaters there's a documentary titled, "Religulous" which is asking some serious questions about religion. (the title is a combination of the words religion and ridiculous)
As the number of non-believers grows and Soulforce grows, chances are there will be more gay atheists coming to this forum in the future. I'm not sure how Soulforce or this forum will handle it but my hope is that we can continue to treat each other's views with respect.
If controversy is the reason the posts have been slack in the past few months, I sure hope mine didn't contributed to it. It's likely however, that my opinions don't carry that much weight among the truly faithful.
Rick
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