We cheer the presence of an openly gay woman or man on television there are large numbers of people in Virginia and other states who see these public affirmations as another step towards the country’s oblivion.

A few years ago I switched to an entirely different kind of New Year’s resolution. Instead of vowing to improve, I pledge to do a better job of accepting my bad habits – to stop worrying about failing to be the person I used to imagine I could be.

It’s beginning to feel like there is no room in America for anyone who is not a fundamentalist Christian.

There’s something in the cross that says this is not just about my “salvation” but about the “salvation” of all those who suffer injustice and inequality.

Although I claim to be a Christian, I live at a moment in time when the Christian faith is being defined by fundamentalists who have dishonored Christ and are in the process of destroying His church. I refuse to wear the ‘Christian’ label without redefining it.

The Bible is not a book of magic. It’s a book of mystery. You can’t just quote verses that support your prejudices or guarantee your health, wealth, and happiness and demand that God ‘follow through’ as promised. God is not limited to the words of Scripture. God is still speaking.

If there is any one message the Bible delivers, it is the message that God loves outcasts and that Jesus was born into the world an outcast to rescue and renew outcasts from religion gone bad. He was born poor and died poor, yet the legacy of love he left us, the legacy of inclusion and acceptance and understanding, will endure forever.

Real love cannot be silent in the face of injustice.

A few years ago I switched to an entirely different kind of New Year's resolution. Instead of vowing to improve, I pledge to do a better job of accepting my bad habits - to stop worrying about failing to be the person I used to imagine I could be.

Creating fear and loathing of gay and lesbian Americans has proven, year after year, to be the most effective say for Dobson and the other fundamentalist Christian leaders to raise millions of dollars and recruit millions of volunteers to support their long-range campaign to take back America.