Religious conservatives attempt balance in Orlando response

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FILE - In this Tuesday, June 14, 2016 file photo, worshipers joins hands during an interfaith service at the First United Methodist Church of Orlando, Fla. A gunman killed dozens of people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, making it the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

By Errin Haines Whack and Rachel Zoll?|?AP June 18 at 12:53 AM

PHILADELPHIA — The massacre at a gay nightclub has tested the limits of the “love the sinner, hate the sin” approach to homosexuality by conservative religious leaders.

The faith leaders have overwhelmingly expressed grief over the loss of life in Orlando, led vigils around the country, offered counseling for the crowds of mourners and free funerals for the victims. But it has been less common for religious conservatives to note that the gunman specifically targeted lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Gays and lesbians say the omission compounds the pain of the shooting.

“This was a place where people came together — LGBT people — and if you erase that part of them, you’re not actually praying for people, you’re praying for an abstraction,” said the Rev. Paul Raushenbush, a gay American Baptist pastor and a vice president at Auburn Seminary in New York. “In order to truly honor these lives, we’re not going to erase them and we’re not going to erase them in church.”

Authorities are still trying to understand the motivation of gunman Omar Mateen, who had expressed hatred of gay people and sympathy for Islamic extremists before his rampage left 49 people dead at Pulse dance club last Sunday. The shooting has laid bare ideological divisions over gay rights, gun control and Islamic terrorism. Many conservatives argue that LGBT advocates are trying to politicize the attack by complaining about the wording of statements of prayer and concern.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/religious-conservatives-attempt-balance-in-orlando-response/2016/06/18/47a9326e-3510-11e6-ab9d-1da2b0f24f93_story.html

[Bluenorthwest]

1. The title does not fit the photo, First UMC of Orlando are not religious conservatives.

Let your yes mean yes some schmuck once said while his followers rolled their eyes in contempt.

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2. Tell it to the Washington Post.

While the First UMC of Orlando has a PFLAG group, it's not necessarily more liberal than most Methodist churches, all of whom are considered mainstream.

It's much harder for hard right socially conservative churches to maintain that when the larger and more established mainstream churches are moving away from that.