This is going to land me in hot water

I already voted. I did so before the 3rd debate. But the truth is, there was no way I was going to change my vote. Which probably makes me one of those ideologues that are so far left or so far right they can't change, one of Romney's 47 percent. In case you're wondering, I'm left leaning. I am not insulted by being called a tax and spend democrat.

But what I am is a liberal Catholic.

A couple of days ago, I posted on my Facebook that I voted for the marriage equality law to go into effect. Almost immediately I got a long and heartfelt missive from a dear friend who is a conservative Catholic. He's also incidentally my confirmation counselor. It was an almost painful letter to read because it was so obviously written with love and caring. He told me how he was praying for me and that he felt like he had been derelict in his duties. As you could likely predict, there were arguments against homosexuality and how we cannot allow marriage equality.

And it pained me to read because I already knew that I wouldn't change my mind. That his position and by extension the church's position was dissonant with what I knew was true.

I really think that if you lead with compassion, you are rarely wrong. So while the thing my loving and compassionate faith wants me to do is to enforce religious beliefs on the population at large, I know in my heart that in this they're not leading with compassion. If they were they would be teaching reconciliation and love. They would remember that God is infallible and doesn't make mistakes. They would remember that they should not judge lest they be judged. Painting people into a corner by instilling self loathing unless they conform is as far from compassion as you can wander.

Truth is, if God's chosen people are the ones most tested, most tried, have the heaviest crosses, then maybe the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered are God's chosen. In nearly every culture and religion, the LGBT people have been persecuted -- in some cases executed or chemically castrated by their governments. And I'm not talking about remote corners of the world. I'm talking the western world in recent history.

I've realized also that I've been reticent to put my views on the subject out there only because I know that people who love me, people who conform to the conservative Christian point of view and are social conservatives but still love me, may read this post. They may see what I really think. And I think that a lot of prayers are going to be sent up to change my mind and my heart on this.

But it is my hope that those prayers get deflected. It is my hope that they'll get turned around and if you ask to change my heart, the prayer will boomerang, hit you instead, and change your heart.

Just lead with compassion. It's an easy litmus test.