I've seen the devastation of online debates, and how comments have the potential to divide a society, so naturally this Duck Dynasty debate makes my hands a little sweaty.

I have been across the country. I grew up in one of the most liberal cities in the United States & for the past four years I have been living in the buckle of the Bible Belt where liberals are easy to spot but hard to come across. I know those liberals, they were my neighbors, my best friends, my church companions. I know those conservatives, they have been my neighbors, my best friends, my church companions. And after seeing perspectives from and with both sides, this argument to me seems unnecessary. Because whether they lean to the right or to the left, whether they love a man or a woman, whether they speak English or Spanglish or jibberish, they are human beings & it's hard to be a human of power, to make decisions, to try to please everyone, it's hard to be a human and not speak what you believe. Life can altogether be hard.

Now this doesn't seem like a hard concept to grasp, but the realization of our own humanity gets lost in the Facebook comments.

When I'm asked a question, I answer it honestly. I tell you what I think and I'm unashamed because as an individual I have the right to create my own moral compass. Phil Robertson was asked a question, he replied how he knew how and that is okay. 

In the same light, when I'm put in a leadership position, occasionally I have to make decisions, decisions that don't make other people happy and as a leader, I have and will continue to make mistakes. A&e found themselves under fire and they had to make a decision and whether or not it was the right one, behind the company is still a human being trying to do their best.

When peoples opinions on moral debates becomes a moral debate in itself, we're missing the picture. I love Jesus and Jesus looking down on the earth, if I know him at all, would be disappointed in a&e's decision, however he would also be disappointed at the comments, the posts, and the division they create.

Now I believe in justice, and every mans right to speak his mind. But this I also believe; We were called to be instruments of peace, to sow love into every situation. A decision by a tv program should not separate the Christians from the non Christians, the liberals from the conservatives.

Right now in Syria there are over 11,000 children dead from a civil war. Egypt is at unrest, warlords are on the loose. And the only thing we think necessary to talk about is reality tv.

The decision by a&e dissapoints me not because Phil is a Christian, but because we have allowed something like love to divide. What dissapoints me more is our response. What's the better response? To shower Phil in love and support for being a man that stands up for what he believes in, to apologize if he felt that he had lost that right. The support we could give Phil is indeed more powerful than any boycott we could give a&e.

My question is; if Phil comes back to the show will the Christians feel like they have won? And will the homosexual activists feel like they have lost? Last time I checked, it wasn't about winning or losing & is nobody forgetting that there is such a thing as homosexual Christians? Because there is and some of them are my friends, and some of them are my most incredible friends.

Now my blog has never been a place of controversy and I have no intention of starting that now so hear my words and try to understand them. If you disagree with them then I respect you still, you're using a right that is yours. If you agree, maybe there is still an opportunity to turn this thing around; to forgive a&e, to love Phil and to put our energy towards the bigger injustices that stare us in the face.