A tale of two churches miles apart

It’s a tale of two churches: one accepting and loving towards all people, and the other intolerant and hateful. These churches are just a few miles apart in Brighton, but they are miles apart in philosophy.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church in downtown Brighton is hosting a weekly coffeehouse-type program catering to the gay community, according to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus. The Faith Action Network, or FAN, will kickoff with a special dinner from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 20 and on Friday evenings after that. Good for them.

Oceola Township residents Beth and Bob Duman have started up a chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and the Livingston County chapter plans on meeting monthly for the first time beginning on Feb. 22, according to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus. PFLAG is a national non-profit organization with over 200,000 members and supporters and over 500 affiliates in the United States that promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and friends.

That good news brought out intolerant people like the Rev. Richard Alberta, senior pastor of Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brighton Township. Cornerstone is one of the most conservative mega-churches in Livingston County.

According to the P & A, Alberta said gay and lesbian relationships, even monogamous ones, are unhealthy, and he wants them to help any of their homosexual children to change their sexual orientation. It quoted him as saying: "The most frightening thing is, they themselves have no idea. While they are doing the 'right thing,' they are actually doing the wrong thing," Alberta said. "It is abominable, according to the word of God. They're literally playing with fire."

Livingston County has a history of intolerance, especially toward gays. That intolerance spawned the anti-gay hate group called the LOVE (Livingston Organization for Values in Education) PAC that sprang up in the spring of 2006 in response to a diversity flag hung by the Howell High School Diversity Club they mistakenly claim is a gay pride flag that promotes and endorses homosexuality. The group is has been quiet after its failed attempt at book banning and its failure to get anymore of its candidates on the school board. However, this may flush them out from under their rock.

The Livingston County PFLG group’s meetings will feature guest speakers and allow parents, relatives and friends, or their children, to interact and share stories in confidence. Anyone can join, and I plan on joining. Albert’s hateful comments remind me of the movie staring “Prayers for Bobby” staring Sigourney Weaver and shot right here in Michigan.

The move is about the true story of religious suburban housewife and mother Mary Griffith who struggles to accept her young son Bobby being gay. Her intolerance causes her son to committee suicide, and it leads her to question her faith. She held the same views as Alberta, but she evolves into a leading advocate for the gay community and their families.

St. Paul’s will feature live acoustic music, games, poetry and more. For more details, call (810) 229-2821.

Republicans again use military funeral to make political points

Republicans will take every opportunity to make political points, and their choice of venues surpasses all accepted norms of taste and appropriateness.

The four-year Iraq occupation has killed more Livingston County soldiers and Marines than were lost in the entire 16-year conflict in Vietnam. Livingston County has lost nine service members in the ill-conceived occupation compared to seven causalities in Vietnam. To maintain support for the occupation in an atmosphere where more and more Americans are turning away from Bush’s failed Iraq policies the current Administration has blocked photos of and media coverage of the caskets of men and woman coming home from Iraq, but they use the funerals of these brave men and woman to make political points and push their disproved reasons for the invasion.

The latest incident is the funeral of Marine Cpl. Mark D. Kidd of Milford in neighboring Oakland County. Cpl. Kidd was a member of the Cornerstone Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brighton Township, one of the most conservative mega-churches in Livingston County, and that’s where the funeral was held.

The church’s pastor, Richard Alberta, compounded the tragedy of the death of such a promising young man by pushing his distorted, hard-right Republican opinions.

A political tone crept into the service when Alberta took task with politicians and Hollywood questioning President George W. Bush's Iraq policies. Alberta said if there was any doubt about whether Marines like Mark Kidd are successful in Iraq, people should ask the little girls there who now attend school or the little boys once shot for saying something that upset the Iraqi politicians.

"I am ashamed, personally, of leaders who say they support the troops but not the commander in chief," Alberta said while the mourners' thunderous clap nearly drowned him out. "Do they not see that discourages the warriors and encourages the terrorists?

"When the next 9/11 comes and the world is terrified, we will not look toward Hollywood who played Marines; we'll look to the real ones. Thank you, guys," he said, addressing a group of Marines.

These inappropriate comments are wrong on so many fronts. It’s not just ”politicians and Hollywood” questioning the President’s failed Iraq polices, it’s the majority of the American people, and they are simply exercising their rights and responsibilities as citizens to do so for good reason. This invasion and occupation was based on misinformation and deceit and nothing has changed. Despite four years of these funerals there’s still no clear, coherent policy.

No one doubts that the soldiers, sailors, airman and Marines are doing an excellent job under extremely trying conditions, but at no time was the reason given for invading a sovereign country was that so boys and girls could go to school.

Of course you can support the troops and not support the Bush failed Iraq policies. Now, Rev. Alberta obviously knows more about history than I do, but this country was formed on the basis of the governed questing the civilian government that control the military. That concept is as American as apple pie, so what is he ashamed of? It’s our absolute responsibility as citizens to hold the government and politicians accountable. Isn’t that what the Founding Fathers stressed?


I would also like to ask Rev. Alberta what does 9/11 have to do with Iraq?