20/20

I am so very proud of my fellow students.  Their actions while Soulforce was on the campus showed that many of them feel exactly the same as I do – love the person, pray for restoration.  I do not apologize for anything I said in my last entry.  If it was mistaken, I pity those who misunderstood what was said.  In no way, whatsoever, do I think all gays should "burn in hell." (As one noter so eloquently put it before I deleted the note.)  And it is precisely that mindset that leads to discrimination of Christians.  Moving along…

During their duration at Lee, Soulforce spent quite a bit of their time dialoguing with students and having open discussions in various places on campus.  They spent most of their time in parks and even visited a few classes where the Equality Ride was being discussed and the teachers allowed them to engage in discussion.  However, why I am so proud of my fellow students is two-fold.  The first being that no one created a riot, no one became riled up or violently irritated, and no one created situations where any Equality Rider was arrested or physically removed from campus.  We are the first campus on which this happened.  So far, every other school that the riders have been to, they have been arrested or forcefully removed from the campus.

The second reason I am so proud of my fellow students is because on Thursday night, while the Riders were in a planning meeting, someone from the community (even Soulforce doesn’t think it was Lee students – read the article here) defaced the bus with "Fags-mobile" in hot pink spray paint.  I am proud of my fellow students because several of them got up on Friday morning, and offered to help clean the bus and scrub off the hate message.  I know exactly why they did it.  They wanted to show the Equality Riders exactly what we have said for so long – not all Christians hate gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered individuals.

All in all, I think both sides accomplished exactly what it is they planned to.  To engage in peaceful dialogue about how we feel; and for that, I am thankful to my fellow students – way to keep the peace, you children of God, you.