Another Odyssey content creator recently wrote an article "When Your College Gets Blacklisted." You probably read it, too. As I was looking through the string of responses and replies, I stared at my laptop screen open-mouthed in shock. They were, for the most part, really hurtful, accusative, full of intentional disdain; all because a young woman spoke her mind.

Please let me clarify. I am not arguing here that only Christians get persecuted. I am not claiming that the LGBTQ community does not get persecuted. I am not saying you don't have the right to your opinion. It would be utterly foolish of me to do any of the above.

I am not shocked that my school, Geneva College, ended up on the "Shame List." I am not shocked that some of us are shocked and that some of half-expected such a thing to happen. I am not shocked that some students feel a sense of pride because we are on the list standing up for what we believe in, while others are appalled to have such association.

I am shocked, however, intolerance is present no matter what angle we take it from.

The LGBTQ community views Christians as intolerant because Christians believe the Bible gives no room for homosexual behavior. To which the response is — that's right, you guessed it — intolerance of anyone with a Christian-based faith.

Um, what? I'm sorry, but this is not okay.

I am only stating that we all have a bigger heart issue than we realize. Guys, we need to stop being such jerks to one another. Everyone. Every single one of us.

Friends, seriously? There is no need to be so dang harsh to one another simply because someone doesn't agree with you on said stance. How are we not more appalled by the sheer rudeness displayed through the response Shaniah (check out her page, she has awesome things to say, BTW) got on her article? How can we be so desensitized to the hurt that was thrown upon her and not feel a thing except pride?

I don't care if you literally disagree and loathe everything for which a person stands. No one, I repeat, NO ONE, deserves such low treatment. There are certain lines that should not be crossed when it comes to how we treat other people and those lines were way overstepped when Shaniah's article was posted last week.

Some of you may do the same to me simply taking a stand against such brutality. I pray you take a step back and don't throw such hurt onto others that has been thrown onto you. I am sorry that such discrimination has happened to you because of your sexual orientation, religion, or whatever the heck someone found a legitimate reason (which by the way, was not a good enough reason; nothing is) to make you feel any less than the valued human you are.

You are so freaking valued, friend.

I attend Geneva and simply because of this, some of you may brush this article off. You may stereotype me as another "overly sympathetic (meaning I play the victim card), bigoted and homophobic Christian". You may call me defensive and tell me that people are always going to respond in such cruel ways because they feel as though their belief system and identity have been threatened. Ya know what? Okay.

I am not going to defend myself, because I know who I am and am confident in my beliefs. That speaks for itself and one takeaway should be that only those who are defensive are those are wavering and insecure in their own beliefs.

Do not let those kinds of people bring you down.

I am going to defend my friend, though, and not because we have a similar belief system but because she was treated like absolute freaking crap for doing the same thing you do with your beliefs; standing confidently in them. Do not treat another person the way that was displayed in the string of comments to her article. If intolerance has to make its presence known, let it be for the harsh treatment of each other because we don't support the other's beliefs.

Let intolerance be for good. Not simply because another type of person exists.

So, friends; don't let the power of hiding behind an electronic device give you the pride to tear down another person's value and beliefs. That is not love. We have to love one another.

We are called to love one another as Christ first loved us as our darkest and weakest.

We need to love. So let's do it.