I haven't looked through all of the posts, so I don't know your arguments are the arguments used against you, but I was in the exact same position right after the same-sex marriage ruling. In the form of debate, it was (or, rather, it felt like) me v. everyone else, and that wasn't fun.

Anyway, I left for a week, came back, and I've been reading books relevant to discussed topics since. I've learned a lot. I think the vacation will be good for you. One thing I recommend; once you've calmed down a bit (are your hands cold? My hands got really cold when I was trying to debate) go back through people's replies and find the weak points. You can even try going through them and rebutting them, if you want (on a GDoc, I mean). It's good practice. Anyway, I'm praying for you, and I hope you enjoy your vacation.

-Alleb

(P.S. When you're back on the Board, page me, and we can set up a mibit chatroom if you want. I'd like to hear, in a more relaxed setting, what you think and how you tried to demonstrate it.)

I am a Christian, and that does NOT mean that I despise gay people.
Hi there, Mr Straw Man!
Dude, nobody made this equivalence. Not a single person said 'you're a Christian; you must be bigoted.' People have been calling you bigoted because you have been expressing bigoted beliefs. (Note: I am not intending to call you a bigot, though I vehemently disagree with your views on gay marriage.)
Also: people don't want you to apologise for having different opinions. They want you to apologise for being rude to them.
Other people have covered the other points, but I'll add that I don't remember hS ever being offended enough to directly ask for an apology on his own behalf.
Oh, and that last bit seems like an appeal to emotion to get us to pity you and go easy on you. I doubt you'll ever read this, but just know that it won't work.
See you in a week.

Take it away, Mr. Wilder!

Your bigotry doesn't warrant an apology just because you were called out on it.

Can you apologise to me for deliberately, directly insulting me with your incredibly condescending post about how reading the Bible cover-to-cover and spending eight years studying it every single weekend doesn't equip me to understand it - doesn't make me smart enough to understand it?

Because I'm not really interested in seeing you around again unless you're capable of actually admitting that was incredibly insulting and wrong. Weird, I know.

hS

I was about to type a lengthy reply to the response you made to me on that other post, in a possibly not-very-nice way: systematically picking apart what I see wrong, line by line. I can respect your wish to drop that thread and will not respond there.

However, I will disagree on one point here. If you think that being gay is a sin, I will consider your opinions bigoted. That is just how I'm going to roll, as a queer Jew who has problems with people trying to impose Christian values on legislative policies and American society as a whole. You're right that Christian =/= bigot. You are completely entitled to think whatever you want, regardless of your religion, and I can agree to the fact that you are entitled to your opinion and free speech and whatnot. I am equally entitled to be "hostile" to that viewpoint (though I don't think that was addressing me, specifically, as I did my best to be as non-hostile as possible; if not, please correct me and point out where :"O ) just as your words seem hostile to me.

I have had zero intention of attacking you as a person because I honestly hate the ad hominem logical fallacy so much. What I will contest is your words and the opinions you express.

Have a good vacation, and I hope that even if we don't end up seeing eye-to-eye on this, that we can agree to be cordial towards each other!

No one wants you to apologize for being Christian. Nor does anyone want you to apologize for being American. Or for being pro-Israel. I think some people would probably like you to apologize for saying their relationship is a sin, but eh, whatever. If you ever change your mind, cool, if not, meh.

I do take exception to the idea that political threads should be gone - I've actually rather enjoyed most of the thread, even the disagreements. Honestly, I don't think it's been that hostile. We've had far more heated debates - for example when same-sex marriage passed the first time around in the US. I haven't seen anyone get heated, except when autism came into the conversation - people have just been calling your beliefs into question in ways you dislike, but I have not seen anyone attack you for them, or tell you to stop caring about the Bible or America. Nor has anyone called you a bigot for being a Christian. Multiple people have pointed out to you that they are also Christians, but disagree with you on the definition of sin. That's been a fact of Christianity for like two thousand years or so.

I'll say it one more time: many of the PPC Board members are also Christian, and no one wants you to hide, apologize for, or stop being Christian. Yes, most of us have tried to change your mind on a few fine points of your theology, but that's not the same as attacking your religion. Hopefully if you read the thread again in a week or so of cooling off, you'll see what I mean.

Good luck with the rest of your week-or-so, I'll see you when the thread falls off the edge.