But it seems that in today's religious climate, it's harder to find the tolerant set, at least in America. Everybody's so afraid of offending everyone else, it's not a real society anymore, with the intellectual exchange that's so necessary for the growth of a culture.
My sister's best friend is a tremendously beautiful black man who just happens to be gay. She invited some of our students to be in her Master's thesis, and one of them declined because of him. Best damn human being you could ever hope to meet, never hurts a single soul, and is Christian in his own right.
The ones that did go had a blast, and know that they learned something incredibly special. I just can't fathom passing up an opportunity like that because of one person you've never met who happens to "fall outside the line" of what is considered acceptable by a belief system. It was their choice, and I won't argue that. I just think you can miss so much of life by hiding behind beliefs.