We live in a small town in north central Kansas. It's no surprise that religion is important here. And by definition a baccalaureate ceremony is based in religion.
But we did not expect what happened. That is, for politics to be interjected into what was supposed to be a celebration honoring this year's high school graduates, in the context of the local Christian churches.
It was actually a nice ceremony. Preachers from all the local churches performed the opening prayer, lead hymns, and so on.
And then. One pastor wasn't satisfied with preaching a message of hope, of looking to the future and so on. No. He had to go there. Within the first sentence you knew it was going to be trouble.
He hectored the kids for over 10 minutes against the evils of gay marriage. He was so definite in his statements that unless he's a world-class hypocrite, he will not marry anyone without proof of fertility.
I'm not sure of its relevance to a baccalaureate ceremony but I do know it was highly inappropriate.
And it was hurtful to any gay students who were subjected to this lack of tolerance.
My religious beliefs are too complex for a quick summary, but suffice to say, I abhor the mixing of hate politics into the message of love that Christianity is based on.