Pitts tries to intimidate

“Taking back Christianity” by Leonard Pitts (Sept. 9) should be titled “Leaving Christianity behind.” His premise: true, caring Christians support the GLBTQ movement and ought to record their endorsement on the NotAllLikeThat (NALT) website.

The problem? His contentions are false, deceptive and intimidating. First, the compassionate Jesus of Nazareth he mentions never embraced lifestyle behavior that would break the heart and damage the body and soul the way homosexuality does. Second, I resent the implication that anyone – especially a Christian who disagrees with Dan Savage, the deviant – should shut up in shame.

Now that same-sex marriage has been legalized, it seems that anyone who doesn’t join the celebration will be punished: stiff fines and closed businesses for bakers, photographers, florists, wedding planners; careers destroyed for Craig James, Dr. Angela McCaskill, Jerry Buell, Julea Ward, Damian Goddard, Senior Master Sgt. Monk, Crystal Dixon, Air National Guardsman Wilson and many others.

A majority of Republicans (69 percent) and evangelicals (98 percent) don’t agree and should push back against these intimidating tirades. To quote Pitts: “There is, conversely, something liberating in standing up, speaking out, saying the truth. To do so is to offer others courage, to give others voice.”

Penny Lancaster

Spokane