As an avid participant of an organized religion, I can certainly attest to the amount of animosity or contempt felt by those who are either atheist or simply have no strong affiliation with it. This is obviously a response by the ever-changing world to insist on us conforming to their norms. The more the world changes from societies once dominated by the dogmas of organized religions, the more incompatible the world will feel living with those who do live under those age-old dogmas. If you live outside your home or community, it can often feel that your beliefs are attacked and you are made out to be backwards and not a person of reason.

One of the leading examples of this would be the discussion of gay marriage and the general acceptance/celebration into public life as a very visible thing. In this discussion, it has become a common prelude that “God hates gays,” making people of faith, and the gay community two completely separate entities. Stating that because God hates gays, and our society has finally found its compassion for these people, we must choose one or the other. If we love God, how can we love what he hates? And if we love our fellow man, indiscriminant of his or her sexuality, how can we worship a God that hates gays?

This is the argument I hear. This argument is wrong.

God does not hate gays. God does not hate anyone or anything, for we are all HIS creations. He does command that to enter his kingdom you must prove yourself a disciple of his by living a life according to his laws, carried out with love, but that is not discriminant of sexual orientation. His laws are universal, there is no separation between Gods children when we all belong to his family.

This argument that to be a member of either side means to hate the other is absolutely mind-numbing and ignorant because it is pitched completely to create camps of enmity, set up undiplomatically with the intent of malice toward that which is different. So much so, that we see it caricatured grudgingly in political campaigns! What else could possibly be a better example of a community failing to communicate than the Republican and Democratic parties? Each claiming to be champions for God, or champions for the LGBT, driving forward the divisiveness of each community for the sake of claiming easy votes. While history has never been kind to the relations between the faithful and the minority gay community, I wouldn’t put it in the hands of our ‘progressive’ American politicians to find common ground in social issues.

Because of this narrative that is incorrectly put forward by the common liberal community, and failure to refute it by the commonly conservative community, we find that a growing demographic feel alienation from God. That they cannot accept his teachings or the organizations formed under Him because they feel that biologically or psychologically they are incompatible... that they are already rejected.

I find this truth to be a great sadness in a world that refuses to listen. I understand that believing in a God is a difficult thing to do, and I have always found that people who do not, have usually tried to work it out, to make it make sense, but just couldn’t. To me, I can find some peace in the fact that those people at least tried to look for God. But to imagine that someone would be told that God hated them so they never looked for his bounty of love, mercy, and spiritual support? That, I find is a tragedy.

You may say that even if God does not hate the gays, there is still no place for them in his kingdom, that according to his word, they are sinners. To this, I would reply that I too am a sinner, I have sinned more times than I possibly could count, and yet I am hopeful there is a place for me in heaven. I am hopeful because I believe in self-reformation, that all I do that is displeasing to God can be changed with his graces. Why then can you not be hopeful? If you are someone who seeks God, then live for him by following his laws joyfully and know that he won't reject you.The state of your mind or body, no matter where you feel yourself placed on the LGBT spectrum, does not take precedence over your actions as a human being. Does God damn the kleptomaniac, who fought the urge to steal? Neither will he damn you, if you chose him. The man who sleeps with women outside of marriage is bound to the same hell that a man who sleeps with another man is. His law does not discriminate, even if people who claim him do.

To those who say, well at least you may get married under the church. The gays are not afforded those rights that I deem universal! I would say this - that under the Catholic faith which I live, we believe that every man, woman, and child is given his own cross to bear that he may endure until his final judgment with God. Whether you are born a cripple, or you feel like you are a woman living in the body of a man, everyone has their struggle. I do concede that I have no inclination as to what it feels like to live with the struggle of being attracted to the same sex, or feeling trapped within the wrong body, but I do know that those with the greatest struggles harbor the greatest capacities for love that I may just as well never be able to understand. To those that choose to embrace their struggle, and fight against temptation, those will be the ones who find the love of God in them, no matter what cross they may bear. The straight man must deny himself before God just as the gay man must and only through sacrifice can you express love.

To followers of God, I advise that we do not get caught up in the passions of man in wanting to be right, but that we look at the passion of Jesus to guide us when pursuing conversion. We need to remember that when Jesus was speaking to the Jews or the Gentiles, he spoke the truth plainly and then went on his way letting those who follow to follow. To those who cursed him, he kept his peace and his truth and resorted only to pray for those who refused to listen because they did not understand. We, too, should be inviting like Jesus, but to those who reject our message, we should let them know before departing that they will always be welcome, and keep them in our prayers. Jesus did not convert with a heavy hand, and neither should we.

This is not a conversion piece. I neither ask you to believe in God nor do I reject you from his graces. I hope to get to a place however, where it is acceptable for me to say that I am a Catholic and my beliefs are not negotiable, and even though I believe acting on homosexuality is a sin, I welcome you to know God and participate in his church, because I love you like my God has commanded me to. It’s fine for you to dislike me, you can even hate me, but before you do try and understand me. Try to understand that God will never hate you despite what misguided people might say. I want people to know that God is the only one who will always love you, in spite of all your faults. Know that to get to heaven, it's not just the gays that must reform themselves, we all must. It is a part of the lifelong journey.

So, if you don’t believe in God, fine, not everyone will. But if you are one of those people thinking about it, wondering, does God hate me because I’m gay? No. He loves you and wants you to love and be loved. So don't assume that you are not allowed to love him just because you may be gay. If you can accept the way of life that he requires of his followers, then he will accept you into his heavenly kingdom.

We may not love the sin, but we will always love the sinner.