Don't let an idiot like this get you down, Bil. Not only does this person need some help in the logic department (God waited over a year? God cares about silly amendments? God didn't strike any other state without an amendment?), s/he is just looking to be mean. People like that are the worst of the worst - s/he won't even benefit from being mean!

Focus on what you need to do now, and don't let the haters get you down, because there are lots of people here who love you.

Bil, just take a deep Taste of the air around you. The mental illnesses and cognitive difficulties of others have nothing to do with you or with reality. I imagine that under ordinary circumstances this would just go right by you. It is the stress of the situation that lays you bare to these sort of ignorant jibes. Keep moving forward and deal with what is at hand, focus your energy on making the best of the situation and helping those around you. Besides, don't listen to a silly stranger when you have us, your silly friends. Take care.

un-believable.

I agree with everyone above, but on a lighter note--the rifle-wielding Jesus is hilarious.

Yeah, I should clarify that I'm not distraught over one e-mail from an idiot. It's just too much trouble to address it right now.

But yesterday morning? They hit a soft spot - which was the purpose, I know. That doesn't make it any less painful though. I just kept thinking, "Why do they hate us so much?"

Bil,
As a religious person, I am offended of the image of Jesus carrying a rifle. I am praying for all of you good people in IN to make it through this, and I pray for the souls of those who sent you the E-mail.

Well, and the rain in Spain still stays mainly in the plains, although gay marriage has been introduced quite some time ago, and the dykes (SCNR) still hold strong in the Netherlands, despite gay marriage and adoption rights there ... Who gives a **** about those loonies?!

Oh Bil, I feel so sad for you. I'm new to your fabulous blogspot, but I've seen so many positive 'n thought provoking posts here 'n this one is no exception.
You are addressing that email by sharing it here. It would do you no good to address that hatemonger anyway, his/her mind is made up, closed 'n not apt to change since their intent was to taunt you. They hate us because in their fight to remain superior we are a socially acceptable target. That's my own belief since I live in a small community where money buys a space in the local paper to pray to God that the 'homosex-suals' don't cause the community more grief in natural occurences 'n war deaths. I fear responding as we've had little rain down my way 'n one match can set everything aflame, know what I mean?
Bil, you've done so much to help others of us, stay on that path, we need you more than the hatemongers.

Bil and readers,

Don't let hate mail or religious bigotry bother you in any way. There are so many haters, but there are so many more people who are better than them and that's the haters' problem.

We had a culvert under our drive blowout resulting in flooding of our neighbors and a total washout of our driveway. Luckily, we got an excavating company here as it was happening and we got a bid (there goes any thought of a cruise or a European vacation) and the crew began the clean-up and repair on Thursday. It took a backhoe, a great sucking device (vaccuum that sucks rocks, stone, gravel, debris and water) and a nuclear-powered high pressure water device to clean and 5 to 7 men a full two days to return us to where we were before the storms began. God had nothing to do with all of this. The culvert had simply given out. We also had water in the house in a couple of backrooms, but we took care of that ourselves. God helped.

Well, with God's help (or not), I am off to a Priority Setting Committee meeting for the Ryan White Part A Planning Council.

Peace to everyone (even the bigots), and vote Democratic in November!

I sincerely hope that the tears you shed were of laughter.

The cut-n-paste ridiculousness of such a worldview is barely worth considering, much less giving your energy over to. There is no argument to be made, to reason to bring to bear, no meeting to be made.

Laugh at them, and let 'em rot.

There hate stems from indoctrination into a marginal fanatic base of Christian denominations. The sad part about these people is this indoctrination takes place from their earliest years on up. When a lie is repeated enough times without having been questioned then it is considered fact. This is what creates fanatics via wrong-headed leadership who have deep seated prejudices and they just love to use any form of catastrophic event in order to promote their agenda! The weather is just a natural event and is covering a larger area than just Indiana, feel fortunate that you’re not experiencing a hurricane. I thought the picture of Jesus was cool myself, after all he was a revolutionary. Shame they got the monogram wrong!

I agree with those above, Bil: I would probably react the same way, too, but in a country of 300 million statistically there have to be at least one or two nutcakes who know how to use computer keyboards.

[By the way, did the rifle-weilding Jesus come with the E-Mail itself?]

I seem to recall recently that the community of Tupelo, Miss, home of the renowned homophobic Reverand Donald Wildman and his crew, was hit by a tornado, or at least there was a near encounter. And Oklahoma and other states not known for their GLBT friendliness seem to have more than their share of awful weather. Is God (the one not wearing the Stars and Stripes Forever)trying to tell them something?

Hey "Kerry's version of God",

I know you're busy smiting Indiana for failing to encode discrimination into their state constitution, but I think your smiting might be misdirected. Canada, Holland, Belgium, Spain, South Africa, Massachusetts and California have not only failed to institutionalize their anti-queer bigotry, they're actively allowing the homos to get married! Yet they all remain curiously un-smited!?!

So why don't you take some of that holy smiting action to the places that really deserve it? Holland has been allowing man-on-man weddings since 2001, and I'm no expert in geography, but I seem to recall something about the country being especially vulnerable to flooding (unless something happens that involves fingering a dyke - but I'm sure that can't be part of your plan).

Amen.

In all seriousness, Bil, I hope you and your loved ones remain safe and dry.

Bil, I'm so so sorry. Thank you for sharing it.

Life is monologue for the fundamentalist, not dialogue. - Michael Whelan, SM

That quote shouldn't be comforting, but sometimes I find it comforting anyhow.

I hope you will.

[By the way, did the rifle-weilding Jesus come with the E-Mail itself?]

No, that was my only editorial touch. It just seemed apropos for their vision of Christianity.

Weren’t the 7 day Adventist having some sort of camp out when the flooding happened? It must be their fault the floods happened.

Kerry is a blasphemer. There's a lot of that sort in this part of the country.

God, and Jesus, love all humans. They created us, the human race in all its diversity, in Their image.
God created GLBT people. How could He not love them?
He does not expect people to live a lie.

As has been stated many times, Jesus never said a word about GLBT people. He did, however, say the Beatitudes, which seem to be ignored by the Religious Reich, for the most part. It's quite funny to me that fundies like Kerry don't seem to pay attention to the actual words of Jesus when they don't benefit their arguments.

Bil,

I would be more than happy to reply to all you fundy hate mail.

Besides, my God left a voice mail and told me the flooding was due to the Indiana General Assembly failing to legalize same-sex marriage in our state.

And trust you me, my God could kick their God's ass, (at least in thumb wrestling) because prior to achieving Goddess, she use to work the swing shift at the Steel Mills in Lake County - Go Region!

I cannot resit, even if I know better. They make curious Christians: they never quote red letter text (the words of Christ); they fixate on the Old Testament, which Jesus reinterpreted; as Polar noted, they ignore the Gospel; they fail to recognize themselves and their churches in the people Jesus did condemn; and they persecute the weak in search of worldly power and wealth.

Even when we glance at their beloved Old Testament (come on, the NT is hardly a basis for oppressing your neighbor in a satisfactory way, nor is it a good basis for a profitable church enterprise) we will note that God promised no more water, but fire. Aside from claiming that He has very bad aim, they seem to think He suffers from Alzheimer's or cannot keep a bargin. Fire was also the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin was being mean to strangers. If I were your tormentor, I would update my fire insurance policy.

Historically, this kind of thought is a remnant of our Puritan heritage. Reinhold Neibuhr has some great stuff on why early America was particularly susceptible to this kind of thinking. It leads directly and inescapably to Christian Imperial kinds of worldviews today.

Theologically, it is deeply tainted by subjectivism. Those who espouse it rarely think it through to its logical conclusion--that their God acts arbitrarily and is therefore inately untrustworthy.

Praxeologically, it lacks any hint of true compassion, and is therefore unworthy of the name of Christ.

Personally, it's just hurtful. I hate that you have to deal with this kind of thing with any regularity, Bil. Thanks for fighting the good fight in spite of it.

And this is why Martinsville got the worst of it?

I'm happy to hear that your extended family is all right.

Humans are not as far removed from our cave dwelling forbearers as I would sometimes hope. Their complete lack of a reality muscle gives me the urge to smite them, myself. Do they still beat on drums and shout for the return of the sun during an eclipse? Do they toss people down volcanoes to appease the fire God(dess) whose wrath threatens to destroy their village? Does God hate trailer parks, Oklahoma, Kansas, and the NE side of Indy; is that why He throws tornadoes at them? Does God repeatedly spare the gaybourhoods of America because He has great taste?

Of course one could spin it the other way: "God gave Indiana 10 inches, brace yourself for more." "God hates average, God-fearing people." "Gaia is awakening and trouncing all the foolish people who have forgotten how to live in a manner that recognises and respects Her awesome power." or "God hates bigots because judgement is for Him alone, but they're too damned self-righteous to get it."

Alli, indeed, go Region!

I'm gonna echo what everyone else has said - it sucks that you got this e-mail, Bil. And Jesus said there were two commandments - love God and love everyone else. I don't see what's so complicated about that.

WOW. Grow a brain, Kerry. Do you EVER have an original thought, or do you just take whatever radical hate-message Fox News and your pastor spoon-feed you on a particular week?

I bet he hates women, and himself, as well. *hugs Bil* Bottom line, the people who matter love you just the way you are. This guy's God sure ain't mine.

Hey Bil...look at it this way. In his next life, he is going to be reborn gay. Not just gay, but flaming gay. Unable-to-hide-anywhere gay.

Kerry,
As a Christian, I'm offended and don't believe in your narrow minded, mean-spirited, hate-filled scripture-twisting interpretation of God that you use to camoflage your bigotry and hatred.

Funny thing. I hear +Gene and Mark had a lovely day for their civil union up in New Hampshire. You'd think Kerry's God would rain extra-hard on a gay bishop.

Yeah, that's why most weather disasters happen in such liberal places as Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, etc... That's why trailer parks are hotbeds of gay activism. That's why cities like NY, LA, Seattle, are *constantly* being struck by tornadoes. (dripping sarcasm)

God loves those "God Fearing" Nebraskans so much for amending the Constitution to ban Gay Marriage and making illegal any attempt to recognize same sex negotiated partnership contracts that he stopped hitting us with tornadoes........NOT!

(Yeah, a bit 80's but apt. When you cross the Nebraska border, set your watch back twenty years.)

Don't let the religious zealots get you down. Your words are a comfort to many. Their words are just an annoyance.

It always amazes me how these people spend so much time reading your column along with many others looking for somewhere to stick a knife.

In an attempt to understand people that do this I went to the myspace profile of someone who wrote "God Hates Fags" in one of the groups. He wasn't smart enough to make his profile private. His photos were a long collection of explicit proof of his drug use and photos of him sharing alcohol and drugs with minors at parties. Although he claimed to be a ladies man there wasn't one picture of him with a woman and he belonged to 15 gay groups. I left him a message pointing out what I downloaded, informed him I would be e-mailing it to the authorities in his home town (which he was stupid enough to name) and suggested he get therapy. :) I feel better now.

Wow Bil, my internet was off for 24 hours and look what happens. Someone must have sliced a cable somewhere. Looks like one of my "Antichrists" grew up. For myself, I was raised Catholic, was a church lector, multiple retreats, many gay priest friends, and the only thing that is worth a damn is the 23rd psalm. I know you enjoy other parts of the bible as well, but at least the 23rd does not claim to be God speaking, but Man exulting.

But Bil, haven't you read section 29, subsection c paragraph 3 of the gay agenda? You know that part that states:
"it is every GLBT persons responsibility to piss God off so much that he smites an entire town there by killing and injuring a lot of straight god fearing people, there by reducing the effective numbers of the "straight enemy" and making it easier for the GLBT troops to take over the world.... bwahahahahaha"

And I thought you were up to date with everything in the agenda!

btw I always thought that the "bwahahahahaha" at the end of that paragraph might have been a bit much to include in a world domination battle plan.... don't you think?

((((Bil))))

From one of your "PFLAG Moms"

Does anyone else recall a similar picture where the person in the photo holding a rifle was Osama bin Laden? Those who pervert religion for their own nefarious purposes haven't a clue what spirituality is all about. Fanatical extremist religious beliefs are antithetical to the teachings of the founders of the major religious faiths.

It was the twisting of the meanings of the Bible, for example, that justified slavery.

The God I believe in wants me to love one another. I don't believe hatred is ever justified by love of God.

Bil, consider yourself getting lots and lots of hugs today.

We still love you!