R-E-S-P-E-C-T

One of the troubling things about the recent silly controversy over SpongeBob/ We Are Family Foundation vs. Dobson is what they are objecting to in the first place. The so-called controversial statement reads as follows:

I pledge to have respect for people whose abilities, beliefs, culture, race, sexual identity or other characteristics are different from my own.

Now, I get it - there's that subtle attempt to equate sexual orientation with civil rights issues such as racism. But at what point did Christians decide it was ok to not respect people who are gay? Disagree with them? Absolutely. Fail to respect them? Absolutely not. I just don't think there is anything worth getting worked up about in this statement. The day we stop respecting certain sinners because they happened to choose a sin that we think is worse than the ones we commit is the day we've missed the entire point. For many of us, it's today, and it has been so for far too long.

I know there's a ton of politics involved in that "controversial" statement. We can discuss that calmly. But since Christians have done such an incredible job of acting really dumb when it comes to this issue, it might be a good idea for us to settle down, stop attacking statements like this and making ourselves look ridiculous by finding demons in cartoons, and start respecting all people, created in the image of God, once again. We can discuss the dangers of the cultural acceptance of homosexuality once we remember to respect all persons involved in the discussion.