Pious

Today's challenge word, pious, had me driving around the neighborhood looking at churches. This one is a conservative Baptist church known for their anti-gay beliefs in the middle of one of the most liberal/progressive neighborhoods in the country.

I don't have a problem with piety defined as religious reverence or "conspicuous devoutness," but when so-called pious people want to deny me my chosen family my tolerance wears thin. Their constitution states:

We believe God originally created persons, male and female, in the image of God and free from sin. We believe all people are sinners by nature and choice and are spiritually dead. We also believe that those who repent of sin and trust Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit. We believe God established marriage to be a lifelong covenant relationship between one man and one woman. Marriage so defined is the only permissible context for intimate sexual expression and is the foundation for human family. We further believe that human life is precious and should be protected from beginning, at fertilization, until death.

Really? "all people are sinners by nature and choice and are spiritually dead??" That's harsh.

I wasn't sure who Titus was, referenced on the billboard, so of course I had to look it up. The misogynist disciple Paul wrote to Titus an epistle outlining what exemplary behavior of church leaders should be, including teaching young women "to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands" and for servants (aka slaves) "to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again...." I guess the folks at Hinson Baptist are on board with that.

Adverb/Adjective challenge: PIOUS