Spiritual Guidance:

My church recently voted to declare itself “open, welcoming and affirming” to all people, especially the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community. Fairview has always been an open church, so to say something official seemed redundant to some of our members.

The thing is, most churches think they are open to everyone. The reality, however, is that some simply are lying to themselves. Others say they’re open when they aren’t, and there are some who really are open, but don’t make it clear and end up hiding their light under a bushel.

Fairview made its vote official following the week Lawrence King, a middle schooler in Oxnard, was allegedly shot by a classmate reportedly over his sexual orientation. While the shooting wasn’t the reason for our vote, it reminds me how far we remain from acceptance of all people, and how important an official stance can be.

Discrimination is still alive and well, and this kind of hatred kills. How many Matthew Shepherds, Tyra Hunters, Jeffrey Owens and Lawrence Kings have to die because of bigotry and hate? It is heartbreaking, it is wrong, and it should not be tolerated anymore. We have to begin to educate, stand up and even put ourselves in uncomfortable positions sometimes, because the alternative is death.

Junior high students shouldn’t be killing each other, and grown men shouldn’t do it either.

Would this boy have killed his classmate had he been taught that homosexuality is not a sin? We need to create a culture where hatred is neither tolerated nor taught. People of all faiths need to stop perpetuating this kind of thinking, and then we need to be proactive.

As a pastor, I’ve been called to love. As Christians, we’ve been called to love. Nearly all religions teach a version of “love your neighbor as yourself.” It needs to start with the faith community.

Our sanctuaries need to live up to their names. Lawrence King shouldn’t have died, and it’s time for us to stand up and say discrimination, hate and violence are not OK and that we aren’t going to teach our children to hate anymore.

REV. SARAH HALVERSON is the senior pastor at Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa.