Memphis Christians Fear Discrimination if Revision to Anti-Bias Policy Gets OK

Memphis Christians Fear Discrimination if Revision to Anti-Bias Policy Gets OK

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A proposed ordinance in Memphis, Tenn., that would ban discrimination against gays is causing outrage among some local critics who say the ordinance itself would be discriminatory -- against people who oppose homosexuality because of their religious beliefs.
"It's going to discriminate against people of faith who are Christians in their worldview, and I believe with all my heart that they have rights too," says Bellevue Baptist Church Pastor Steven Gaines.
The amendment to the city’s existing non-discrimination policy, which was presented to the city council Tuesday, would prohibit the

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In this day and age, with all that is going on the question of equal treatment in all aspects of society is coming into question. Here the balance must be reached over a persons ability to do a job, and interact with the rest of a community without fear of reprisal on any level, versus a person demanding special treatment under the law, believing that they are in a special group. Said fears are often valid, however discrimination under any circumstance should never be permitted at any time. Most of us were raised to believe in equal justice under the law, however when it comes to one group or another stating that they are being discriminated again, the question must be asked is it valid and is there a history of such in those cases. It is unfair to ask a person who is living an alternative lifestyle, or any group to pay taxes and not have the full bennifits of the law and protections there of. To do such, places the person as a second class citizen. But at the same time, said group should not flaunt or push their views on the local community, as that too is wrong. As long as it is private, then it should not matter that a person is a certain religion or a particular minority, or living an alternative lifestyle.

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I think this law is going to cause sexual choice profiling.

I think Obama should sue the state.

reply to post by sdcigarpig


Simple solution. No physical abuse, no discrimination. Exception being purposely hateful comments.

Christians are suppose to talk one on one, not aggressively insult.

I don't see a problem with this law. If you're a Christian who hates gays because you think it's against your belief, rant together with fellow Christians. If you just blurt it out randomly on the street to complete strangers and every gay you meet...well...you're just being a f****** intolerant bigot a*sh*le

[edit on 21-7-2010 by MrXYZ]

reply to post by Gorman91


Hey, do you want to outlaw purposefully hateful speech?

Who is going to decide that?

You know what, I hate and despise communists. So, going to outlaw my damn right to call out filthy despicable communists?

Where do you draw the line?

How bout we use the Frelling Constitution. You know that thing that no one wants to mention. If you harm another or infringe on their rights.

I would support the freedom speech, no matter how distasteful or hateful it is. That is a principle of the country, to which has been a corner stone of one of the primary things in the Bill of Rights. To ban such speech starts to go down a dangerous road, which will lead to a more stressful society and higher tensions between people. Personally I believe you can not insult a person in public, as they will take offense to it, but you can insult a person in private, perfectly acceptable, they may even thank you for it.
But the laws are getting too ridicolous in nature, where one group or another demands that they get protection under the law, to where you never know if you can get sued, fired and or jail time for violating such. The solution is to go through the laws one by one, and to see what can be tossed out, and what should be rewritten to follow through for the entire society on a whole, protecting everyone equally, rather than piecemeal it together as is happening currently.

Being a gay man and having lived in Memphis for three years I can tell you that many of the people there are EXTREMELY narrow minded. I have had people in Memphis hound me to come to their church, preach to me (after repeated requests for them to stop) and threatened me with physical violence because I didnt believe in "their" God. I shudder to think what would have happened if they had known I was gay!

The World Overcommers Church (yes thats their real name) is huge there and their members are in my opinion, are fanatic and scary. They built a 100ft Statute of Liberty holding up a cross. It cost them $250,000.00 and there are kids just a few miles away living in grinding poverty. And if you want to see them get REALLY fanatic just mention the word "gay".

I am really really happy I no longer live there.

I just moved to Tennessee from New Mexico, and I actually attended a Southern Baptist church with a neighbor to satisfy my curiosity. (Southern Baptists have a reputation for being fiery, and I wanted to see for myself.) I have attended many different churches, from many different sects of Christianity, and I have to say, I was floored.

I could barely recognize the message as Christian.

SO much talk about warfare, spiritual war, very aggressive little (or big) sect. Not much Jesus going on, in terms of the non-judgment and loving thy enemy stuff.

In the Bible study, after the sermon, out right mocking of evolution, and some interesting takes on what Jesus meant about "giving unto Cesare what is his, and unto God what is his" that degraded into a rant on why they needed to control the government, and how loyalty to the country was low on their list, after God (their version) and family, and church.

Pretty interesting stuff. A lot scary. But enlightening, for sure.

Based on that, I would take what this guy is saying with a pound of salt. I went right after I moved here, and that seems to be what they say 24/7. How they are being oppressed, and victimized, and having other peoples beliefs shoved down their throats, and how it is all out spiritual warfare. I dont think anything they didnt like could possibly be described any other way.

Oh, and I am not a big believer in demons, but I have to say, when I met the pastor, I got so creeped out by the vibe he put off I am totally tempted to reconsider that.

Some crazy # passes for Christianity here in Tennessee, let me tell you.

Just my eye witness report. And opinion of course.

So, let me get this right. It`s ok for Christians to discriminate, but no one else can? When did it become ok to discriminate at all? I didn`t know Jesus hated gay people. I thought Jesus loved everyone, didn`t he? When did Christians change Jesus loves all, to Jesus hates gays? Sounds more like their own hate, and nothing to do with Jesus.

reply to post by endisnighe


There's a pretty glaringly obvious line. If you hit someone, you committed a crime. If you verbally abuse someone until they cry, it's like hitting someone, though certainly not as bad. No one is going to cry or feel bad if you insult Communists and hate them. But if someone kills himself because you called him a "fag", then yea, you kind of are a criminal. Though not as much as killing someone for being gay.

To put it simply, if you are going to act like a raging barbarian, there's plenty of countries in Africa and Asia where you can do that. America is civilized. There was a whole argument for what you are talking about a long time ago. You can say what you want. But if you yell fire in a crowded theatre and a bunch of people get killed from trampling, you are going to be prosecuted. No one hurt? you got lucky.

The message in many of the holy texts remain the same through out the ages, and people find that religion is a big part of their life. Faith is what sustain and guides a person when nothing else will. The sad part of all of the different religions out there, is that there are people who are either fanatical or devout in their belief. They often warp or pervert the beliefs of what they follow. And ultimately this stops being faith and leads to fanaticism.
The really sad part of the entire religious justification against people who are gay or that do not fit into their world view, is that those who would do such, only pick and choose the laws they will follow, often igoring the rest. If you read the old testament and specifically, that which was put out by Moses, you will find that there are over 615 laws that were put down as to what society can and can not do. But for christians it is a real shame, cause they only pick and choose laws from the old testament, rather than look at the message that Jesus did put out, and that can be boiled down to: Be nice to each other.
Cicero once stated: rashness is the characteristic of youth, prudence that of mellowed age, and discretion the better part of valor.