I can't WAIT to hear what Bryan Fischer, the curmudgeon-in-residence for the American Family Association, has to say about THIS. He recently wrote, "The First Amendment was written by the Founders to protect the free exercise of Christianity. They were making no effort to give special protections to Islam… Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy.”

Exodus has just as much right to freedom of speech as the Westboro Baptist Church and the KKK ... but private corporations are under no obligation to provide them a soapbox for their views. But HEY, maybe we could have a "Fairness Doctrine" for iPhones just like we have a "Fairness Doctrine" for radio and TV! Oh, I forgot ...

Pat Robertson also said that God might hurl a meteor at Orlando because of "Gay Days" at Disneyworld!

Most of the preachers of the so-called Prosperity Gospel look like they're going to "prosperity" themselves into an early grave!

Sorry, Russell, but it still doesn't make a lick of sense. The way you describe it, Hell serves no useful purpose at all.

There have been floods, volcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis, and meteor impacts for billions of years before humans arrived on the scene ... and these natural disasters will continue for billions of years after we have gone or evolved into something else. There is nothing remotely supernatural about it. I wish people would learn to face up to reality.

Gee, maybe if every single evangelical agreed to pray, simultaneously, for all the awful Gay people in the United States to miraculously turn Straight, it would happen!!! But probably not.

DEAR CALIFREDROOD: You'd be astonished how many people actually believe that Catholics are NOT real Christians. In fact, there are plenty of evanglicals who are convinced that Catholicism is enough to doom a person to Hell for all eternity.

Did someone once say that two hands AT WORK were infinitely more effective than a million hands clasped in prayer?

@IHS: I don't ever recall Catholic churches requiring anyone to sign a "Loyalty Oath" in order to attend Mass on Sunday.

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DEAR CLOVER: Christians may make up 70% of the US population, but among them there is a wide diversity of opinion concerning how Gay people ought to be treated. Be that as it may, if some Christians object to Apple, I would encourage them to find an alternative. If they object to companies that support fair and equal treatment for Gay Americans, then I would encourage them to boycott Campbell's Soup, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Foodland, Kellog's, General Mills, Sara Lee, Delta Airlines, US Air, Levi's, Macy's, Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, Toyota, Subaru, Volkswagen, Bank of America, American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Dow Chemical, Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, Dell, Microsoft, Time-Warner, Disney, Marriott Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Allstate, Met Life, Prudential, UPS, BP, Chevron, Shell, Bristol-Myers, Johnson & Johnson, Borders, Clorox, Hallmark, J.C. Penney, Sears, Proctor & Gamble, J.C. Penney, AT&T .... and any other company that has scored highly on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index. Better yet, it might be best to just go off and live in the woods. hide

I couldn't agree more. Just because someone supports marriage equality for law-abiding, taxpaying Gay couples DOES NOT mean they are against marriage for Straight couples. Most of my friends, family members, and co-workers are Straight, and I would NEVER deny them the right to marry someone of the opposite sex.

DEAR PROPHET: Is it your belief that all homosexuals are anti-god, hateful bigots? With regards to "traditional marriage," I am a big supporter of traditional marriage for adult heterosexual couples.

One of my best friends was raised a Methodist, then at the age of about 40 converted to Judaism. Go figure.

By the way, I know of absolutely no one who does NOT support "traditional" (i.e. heterosexual) marriage. I have many friends who are Straight, and I have always encouraged them to find someone compatible with whom they can make a commitment and share a life. I know many married Straight couples, and I'm always there to help them celebrate anniversaries. Just because I am a strong supporter of marr...more

By the way, I know of absolutely no one who does NOT support "traditional" (i.e. heterosexual) marriage. I have many friends who are Straight, and I have always encouraged them to find someone compatible with whom they can make a commitment and share a life. I know many married Straight couples, and I'm always there to help them celebrate anniversaries. Just because I am a strong supporter of marriage equality for Gay couples doesn't mean I don't support the "traditional" marriages of my heterosexual friends.less

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To accuse Apple of "religious discrimination" is to suggest that all Christians are of one mind when it comes to Gay people and the goals of groups like Exodus. This is not the case. Many Christians oppose the tactics that Exodus uses, and among my own Gay friends MOST are Christian themselves. hide

As someone who was raised in the Catholic faith and belonged to several different Catholic churches over the years, I'm not at all shocked by this survey. There is often a HUGE difference between official Vatican pronouncements and what opinions are held by Catholics at the grassroots level. Most Catholics I know have been vitally interested in social justice, and this is especially illustrated by...more

As someone who was raised in the Catholic faith and belonged to several different Catholic churches over the years, I'm not at all shocked by this survey. There is often a HUGE difference between official Vatican pronouncements and what opinions are held by Catholics at the grassroots level. Most Catholics I know have been vitally interested in social justice, and this is especially illustrated by their work with the poor and downtrodden. Despite official Catholic frowning on artificial birth contol, most Catholics have no problem using condoms or The Pill. And Catholics tend to be FAR more accepting and supportive of their Gay friends, family members, and co-workers than evangelical Protestants tend to be.

Of course this survey is being attacked by those who call anyone who supports equal treatment for Gay people "Catholic in name only." That's ridiculous. There is a great diversity of opinion amongst Catholics with regards of political, social, and even doctrinal issue, but there is NOT a written "Oath of Fealty" that everyone must sign in order to be considered a Catholic in Good Standing.

This begs the question: Why do Catholics stay in churches in which they have doctrinal disagreements? I suspect the reason Catholics who do not necessarily adhere to ALL official church pronouncements STAY in their churches is because, when they go to Mass on Sunday, they feel like they are participating in a service and litergy that they feel comfortable with. In my own personal experience I never once went to church and heard the priest say, during Homily, "THIS is what the official Vatican position is, and after Mass is over each of you will be expected to sign a statement indicating you agree with it!"

That's not what the Catholic Mass is about. It's about worship and communion with your fellow parishioners, not indoctrination. And unless you feel like you are being actively ostricized by those around you, you do tend to stay in the church that you grew up in and feel the most comfortable with. Frankly I don't think churches at the grassroots level are in a position to ostracize anyone!less

DEAR EVERHOPEFUL: What I don't quite understand is, WHY would someone choose to go to Hell? As evangelists have spelled out in no uncertain terms, Hell is the most utterly horrific state of being there is. If someone does not surrender to Jesus at some point in life, then after he dies his conscious mind will be sucked down into Hell, where he will be tortured and tortured and tortured and torture...more

DEAR EVERHOPEFUL: What I don't quite understand is, WHY would someone choose to go to Hell? As evangelists have spelled out in no uncertain terms, Hell is the most utterly horrific state of being there is. If someone does not surrender to Jesus at some point in life, then after he dies his conscious mind will be sucked down into Hell, where he will be tortured and tortured and tortured and tortured, and it will never EVER STOP. Endless agony 24/7, and not even time to take a nap. No one would deliberately choose such a fate, and yet you seem to think they do.

WHY?

Could it be that they don't believe in Hell? If that is the case, and God knows their innermost thoughts, how could God hold them accountable? Likewise, how could God hold them accountable for believing with utter sincerity that their own non-Christian faiths have provided for their spiritual redemption?

If Hell is as insanely unbearable as you are convinced it is, WHY would anyone choose it?less

If anything, I appreciate Unitarian-Universalists for maintaining a sense of humor, which so many evangelicals LACK. Here's one joke: QUESTION: What do you get when you cross a Unitarian with a Jehovah's Witness? ANSWER: Someone who knocks on your front door but isn't QUITE sure why!

In a perverse sort of way, I actually WISH that Harold Camping was right! What an interesting day that would be! What would be even more interesting is if the Apocalypse were to occur in a more spectacular fashion, not in the anthropomorphical sense the authors of the "Left Behind" series have portrayed, but as more of a Stephen Spielberg production, with boiling clouds, trumpets, angels descendin...more

In a perverse sort of way, I actually WISH that Harold Camping was right! What an interesting day that would be! What would be even more interesting is if the Apocalypse were to occur in a more spectacular fashion, not in the anthropomorphical sense the authors of the "Left Behind" series have portrayed, but as more of a Stephen Spielberg production, with boiling clouds, trumpets, angels descending out of the sky, Moon turned to blood, the whole nine yards. Imagine coming to the realization that it was all coming true, just as the evangelists had been warning for years, and that there was something more awesome than just the cold, hard, physical reality we inhabit. Imagine actually watching people disappear into thin air! Wouldn't THAT be something???

Yet in the final analysis, it's that cold, hard, physical reality that I will content myself with. My life is not so meaningless that I need the fear of a "Rapture" and the "End Times" to make sense of it all ... nor do I need Heaven or Hell to bribe me into behaving decently, thank you very much.less