Racism and hate are alive and well at Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church!

It's so nice that in 2011 I can log into my computer and see the heartwarming story of a Baptist church in Kentucky who voted (not even a week ago) that:

anyone is welcome to attend services, but interracial couples could not become members or be "used in worship services or other church functions."

Well, I'm sure this was some barbaric backroom vote that the congregation wasn't aware of. If I were a congregant there, I'd be royally pissed. Where does a church get off taking the choice of congregants away from the parishioners? But wait! That's not the way of it:

The vote by members last Sunday was 9-6, Harville said. It was taken after the service, which about 35 to 40 people attended. Harville said many people left or declined to vote.

You want to know what the problem with this country is? I'll tell you. It's THIS exact thing. It's not the church, the christians, the atheists, the blacks, the whites, the polka dot people. It's the people who "left or declined to vote".  We're all so quick to blame each other but when the time comes for us to have a choice or a say, the majority cops out.

I'm all for picking and choosing biblical quotes to support or shoot down an argument. In a book that full of hypocrisy it's easy to do but there is one general assumption that I make unilaterally about christians and it's also the thing that I have the hardest time with.  Love.  Beyond anything else that I believe personally, people flock to christianity for love. Their love of god, their love of the message, his love for them - most any way you break it down god's message is supposed to be "love".  So why, in 2011 are we condeming people for who they love.

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."Galatians 3:28
"The Lord does not look at the things men look at. Men look at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart"1 Samuel 16:7
"God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right."Acts 10:34-35

Now, I'm sure there's all kinds of verses that you can point to to show me that god is right on course with all of this and as I said before, that's the beauty of the hypocrisy in the bible, there's something in there that suites everyone's arguments.

So I ask again, how is this right?

A woman I know married the man she thought was the love of her life. They got married, in a huge, beautiful Catholic affair. It was a storybook wedding. 9 months later they were separated and never saw their 1 year anniversary together. My friend picked up the pieces and moved on. She fell in love with another and they have a beautiful child together. My friends new husband is a hard working, ethical, loving, compassionate, faithful man who would never break her heart again. And he's black.

The fact that this country (and christians at large because they are the majority of the outspoken) believes it can tell people who it can and cannot love it absolutely against the most basic of christian teachings.

I just don't understand why it matters, who you love. Love god, love boys, love girls, love blacks, whites and asians. Just LOVE. Isn't it supposed to make us better people?