Over at Alternet.org (quite the source today!) is this interview with Joe Murray, formerly of the American Family Association (AFA), Don Wildmon's group in Mississippi that, among other acts, tried to force a boycott of Disney because it extended employee benefits to same-sex partners (that went really well). Murray wrote several anti-gay rights pieces for the AFA, but has since left the organization and recanted his writings.
Why, might one ask, would someone who was so vocal in his attacks on gay marriage and gay rights in general suddenly support them? According to the interview (which should be read in full for the surprises within) - Murray read the Bible! Low and behold, he learned that the story is one of love and acceptance, one of letting God be God, and making sure we don't usurp the place of God by declaring who is eligible for eternal bliss and who is destined for damnation. While hardly a candidate for progressive politics - by his own admission, Murray doesn't trust political labels - Murray nonetheless followed his conscience rather than the dictates of the grand high poobahs of the Christian right, and discovered within the text of Scripture the resources for overcoming the hatred and bigotry fomented by the organization for which he used to work.
This testimony is comforting for those of us who have been saying for years that the story of love and grace found in Scripture is deeper and more profound than the simple who's-in-who's-out of the Christian right narrative. That someone who was actually an employee of one of these groups found both the courage and intellectual and spiritual muscle to move beyond the narrow confines of this group, and to do so in a way that demonstrated both integrity and honesty shows what a powerful weapon scripture can be, when used properly.
