This whole episode is extremely disturbing to me. I am a Christian, and the behavior of the people involved DO NOT reflect tolerant Christian behavior. Jesus would have welcomed your friend into His presence. Secondly, having spent (unfortunately) much of my life in the South, I totally understand the narrow-mindedness and bigoted Bull dogged approach to your friend. This is reminiscent of the way militant Blacks were treated in the 1960's. It is abhorrent behavior, yet there are those that cling to cave man behavior that we cannot control. In addition, I am a conservative. Being a conservative does not mean being bigoted, or racist. It simply means adhering to our countries values, which means religious freedom, freedom from governmental control, and TOLERANCE of other peoples values, whatever they are.
Personally, I would not have run the way your friend did, and would have been beaten to a bloody pulp. She did EXACTLY what she should have done. It is so sad that in today's world we must continue to be in fear of the common man. Unfortunately, we never know who the common man is. Makes one wonder how many of those fools were acting out of denial rather than true hatred...
