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Originally posted by livi
OK, thanks Z-man.
Makes it very difficult to participate in a debate coming from my non religious perspective.
Are all sins looked upon as equally serious and hence judgment/punishment? Is two men kissing comparable to stealing and killing?
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All sins are equal in the sight of God. Probably the easiest way to try to put that in perspective is to understand that the real sin is dissobedience. The particular act itself is secondary to that. Defying God's word, no matter how trivial the act, is still defying God's word. When you do so, He decides He would really rather not continue His relationship with you.
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Is everything claimed/interpreted in your Bible a good thing, the truth and something we all should live by?
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We believe it gives us pretty clear guidlines to live by. Not everything in it is good, however. There are some real horror stories in it.
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Is that, then, equally true for the Koran? If not, why?
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For its followers, yes; that is equally true of the Quaran.
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Who gets to decide what is right or wrong? What book? What person/persons?
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In religious matters, that is a deeply personal thing. I think the individual gets to decide for themselves, in as much as they choose to follow God or not, and choose where they think His word is recorded. Having made those choices, the question of right or wrong gets answered for that individual.
In this case, the school has made those decisions. They teach what they believe; that is their right. They are not affecting anyone outside of a community that has adopted a mutually acceptable structure of beliefs. They do not teach violence nor intollerance towards who they perceive as sinners. It sounds like in spite of that, these demonstrators would like to decide for this school what is acceptable for them to both believe and to teach; they want to change their beliefs concerning right and wrong. That is wrong; they have no right to do so.