Faith In America was founded on the heels of the death of Sean Kennedy in May 2007. Kennedy died from injuries sustained after being assaulted for being gay. Says Creech, religion-based bigotry has historically been, and continues to be, used to justify social inequity and individual attacks such as the one that felled Kennedy.

"We believe that when people understand the larger context in which religion has been misused to justify discrimination," says Creech, "that they will better understand how it's being misused today against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people."

Boling's platform at the Greenville event, part of Faith In America's 2007 "Call to Courage" campaign, was that he condemns incitements of violence towards people in the name of religion, and that the LGBT community was demanding tolerance while at the same time being intolerant towards the Church. "This group seems to be all about tolerance, but there doesn't seem to be much tolerance for people that hold another opinion," says Boling, calling the Faith In America meet a "church-bashing session."

"It doesn't have to do with biblical interpretation," says Creech of the impact of religious dogma on treatment of LGBT citizens. "It has to do with citizenship in this country."

Video profiling the recent conference, as aired on PBS' Religion & Ethics Newsweekly on November 16, 2007, is avaiable for viewing below.

((VIDEO GOES HERE))