The same sort of cognitive dissonance that lets intelligent, otherwise-rational people believe things like the Earth is only 6,000 years old but Methuselah lived for over 1,000 of those years.

See also "Cafeteria Christianity," something that some Christians condemn, too.

One of my closest friends is gay and devoutly Catholic. I don't get it. But he goes to a fairly progressive church where who they know who/what he is and he's still accepted. And he clearly gets something out of it.

Ah yes, the 'arsenokoitai'. Took part in a study group with some gay and lesbian christians so I could counter the theists arguments from within their own belief system. If I remember there are only 3 references in the new and old testament to any kind of same-sexual activity. Jesus says nothing and this is the only reference in the new testament if I remember correctly. Paul was a Greek educated jew trying to communicate to gentiles and in the passage quoted used the word 'arsenokoitai' which was not translated as homosexual until 1958. This word did not exist until Paul created it and there continues to be substantial debate within christianity as to his intent. Because of all this it's not that hard for LGBTQ to justify their christianness. Now of course I'm pretty sure nearly everyone on this site could come up with a mountain of reasons no one should be religious.

The bible is beyond a joke really, can't rely on translations, it was mostly written in Hebrew, which has not word for hell for a start. And i don't think they had the word homosexual either.

the meek are not humans

We have a tendency to conflate the bible with religion. Religion is a belief and worship in a God. The Bible is believed to be a book inspired by him.
The worship and how one honors said God has nothing to do (believe it or not) with the bible. Their have been thousands of Christianities based on bible teachings yet the religions are different and hold different opinions.

Their is more religion attributed to the bible than is actually in the bible.
It does not matter what is actually in the bible religion is dependent on what people want to believe. This is why Christianity constantly evolves. As cultures and ideas change so does the religion to fit the times.

Christians observe the Sabbath on the wrong day. God actually killed people in the bible for the most trivial of offenses concerning the Sabbath. There is nothing giving them permission to observe it whenever they feel like it.
Christianity claims that they believe in the bible and do. They observe any and every part as much as they wish to and ignore the rest.

I've always wondered how the mafia could be so religious.

I personally want nothing to do with a god (if he is real), that created me as I am and then would be willing to burn me in hell for eternity because of the way he created me. No thanks. What a shitty god that would be.

[en.wikipedia.org]

The Unitarian Universalist Church does not use bible. Welcomes LGBT community.

Damn! Forget gay! That passage just about covers everyone I know.

I spoke to a rabbi about "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is abomination" because I've never seen anything wrong with being gay and so that bit was always rather a problem for me even though I'm not religious. He told me it was all written down a long time ago when there weren't as many people around and it was still in humanity's best interests to increase the population - and that since it was so long ago, it's open to interpretation. Therefore, it could well mean that man should not lie with man with the intention of procreation, as he might with a woman, because if he does babies aren't going to happen (why lesbians don't get a mention is anyone's guess). Recreational sex between people of the same sex, he reasoned, is therefore probably fine.

I have several people very close to me who are gay christians. I don't bother attempting to point out the contradictions. They choose to believe. It's not for me to tell them that they're wrong when they haven't asked. We don't talk about those things. If my opinion is ever asked for, I'll share it.

My manager is a lesbian, but believes in god. She won't go to church though. They probably would not like her being there, is why I think she doesn't go.

Because god is love. Because that is not a correct translation of that passage. And hell, aren't most of the christians fornicators? And theives? And covetous, etc, etc.