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Tennesee

LifeWay Research Poll: Americans Who Believe Being Gay Is A Sin- No Longer The Majority

NASHVILLE, TN -- In a poll taken this past November and released Thursday by LifeWay Research- which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention- found that 37-percent of those Americans polled said “yes” when asked if homosexual behavior is a sin. 45-percent said no and 17-percent answered that they did not know.

Researchers said that this reflected a considerable shift in attitudes from the previous year's poll, taken in September 2011, when 44-percent said homosexuality was a sin, 43-percent said no and 13-percent didn't know.

According to Reverend Cindy Andrews-Looper of Holy Trinity Community Church in Nashville, whose congregation has a significant number of LGBTQ persons, the polling data was not a shock.

Andrews-Looper's church first opened in the mid 1990's and a considerable amount of her flock who identified as LGBTQ were in the closet.

In an interview with The Tennessean, Andrews-Looper said that being an LGBTQ person isn’t any more sinful that being left-handed.

“Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn anyone,” she said. “To use the gospel to condemn anyone is missing the point.”

Researchers also noted that persons who answered that they believe being gay is a sin were Americans who attend church at least once a week or identify themselves as Evangelical.

The shift in attitudes about gay people likely cost an Evangelical minister from Atlanta the chance to pray at President Obama’s second inauguration. The Rev. Louie Giglio of Passion City Church in Atlanta had been asked to give the benediction. He withdrew after an anti-gay sermon of his surfaced on in the internet.

“Due to a message of mine that has surfaced from 15-20 years ago, it is likely that my participation, and the prayer I would offer will be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point of the inauguration,” he said in a statement. ~ The Tennessean

LifeWay’s Ed Stetzer predicted more future conflicts like that one.

“The culture is clearly shifting on homosexuality and this creates a whole new issue: How will America deal with a minority view, strongly held by Evangelicals, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, and so many others?” he said in a statement.

North Carolina

North Carolina Cafe Owner Gave Letter Condemning Homosexuality To Lesbian Couple

Photo courtesy of WCTI News Channel 12, New Bern, NC

NEW BERN, NC -- A lesbian couple, Ariel and Shawnee McPhail, claimed that as they left The Stingray Café, in New Bern, NC on December 4 after they finished their meal, the owner came up to them and handed them a letter that stated God's opposition to homosexuality. The hand written letter read in part:

"God said in the last days that man and wom[a]n would be lover of self, more [than] the lover of God. That man and woman would have unnatural [affection] for one another. Then, the coming of the Son of Man, who is Jesus. 

So please, look at your life. See how it hurt[s] everyone around you. And ask the Lord to open your eye[s] before it [is] to[o] late. The Love of Christ P.S. my daughter also was gay. It destroy[ed] her life and my grandson." 

Ed McGovern, the owner of the cafe, told local television station WCTI, that he gave the couple that letter, out of love, and that he did something similar to another lesbian couple in the past.

McGovern said he wrote the letter because he did not approve of the McPhails kissing outside of his restaurant. But the couple denied doing it. 

"First of all, we didn't kiss. We don't kiss in public. We were holding hands," said Shawnee McPhail. "Secondly, if I did kiss my wife in public, what married couple would you go to and say, 'how dare you. You cannot hold hands and you cannot kiss in public therefore you deserve my judgement.'" 

The couple said everyone has the right to his or her opinion, but what McGovern did crossed the line. "If we're experiencing it, then other people are too and that's not fair," said Ariel McPhail.