“Derek shot me a glance and lobbed another rock. “You know, a few years ago a kid at my church told me I was damned because I’m black. Something about Noah cursing the descendants of Ham. He showed me the Bible passage. I was sort of scared, so I asked my parents about it, and they just laughed at the idea. I remember my father rolling his eyes and saying, ‘Of course you’re not going to hell.’ But then I asked him whether gay people were going to burn, and my dad stopped laughing. He just goes, ‘Are you gay? No? Then don’t worry about it.’ Since then, the whole ‘God hates you and you’re going to hell’ idea has seemed sort of stupid. I don’t know. Seems like Jesus probably likes you and Topher more than He likes the Christians who kill people.” FriendshipAcceptanceRacismToxic Religiosity Book:True Letters from a Fictional Life Source: True Letters from a Fictional Life