Reply #66: great reply. here's what I use

[land of the free]

I'm gonna refer to your suggestion, liberalhistorian, when I run into this topic again (and it often comes up when I discuss politics with conservative acquaintences and friends).

I've often used this reply, with success:

The bible tells me that it is God's duty to judge people, not mine. The bible tells me to live in Jesus' image, and that means I'm supposed to "love one another" as he has loved me/follow the "golden rule", etc.

I haven't had one Christian argue this point with me.

They often try to push the discussion toward "choice" and "sin" and even a suggestion of "mental illness" (WTF???), or an interpretation of bible verses. It's hard to not take their bait, as I find that BS extremely infuriating. I know there are ways to refute their points, but it ends up in my trying to reason with someone who may be completely immune to facts and reason. However, I just keep steering the conversation toward my point, and usually they change the subject. There doesn't seem to be anything they can nitpick in my argument, and I just keep referring to it as one of the key themes in the New Testament.