Is it normal to break a 10 year friendship after one horrible conversation?

I've been friends with Sarah (pseudonym) for 10 years since I was 11, but had become closer over the past 8 months due to her moving within walking distance of me and us struggling with unemployment together. She knows I'm bi-sexual and has never had a problem with it, she even suggested going to some Pride marches together in the summer.

She's recently started going to church a lot and going on overnight trips to the coast with other Christians, which I think is where the problem started. On Thursday I met Sarah and my work colleague in town and it was a normal day of laughter peppered with snowball fights, but when we went to Starbucks to shelter from the blustering wind the mood changed. My colleague brought up an interesting study on hormones in the womb and their effects on sexuality and Sarah suddenly clammed up and looked awkward, before telling us "Well, in my view being gay IS a sin".

I was shocked and and asked why on earth two people being in love was suddenly a sin to her and she went on to say "God made man to be with woman and to be gay is going against God's plan- so it's a sin". She then went on a rant about Jesus and how her faith was in Christ, told me to watch Case for Christ on youtube and started attacking straw-man arguments about Jesus not being real - when I never mentioned Jesus in the first place, it was the homophobic hate speech that disgusted me.

The subject somehow got changed and we walked home together, she acted as if nothing was wrong but I felt an enormous elephant in the room. I've had a lot of missed calls from Sarah the last few days and a few "hey/ how are you"texts, but I can't bring myself to answer them. Is it normal that I feel like after 10 years my respect for her has dropped enormously so quickly? It feels like in the space of one conversation she morphed into an entirely new person? Any thoughts will be appriciated.

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73% Normal
Based on 30 votes (22 yes)
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Comments ( 65 )
  • e51pegasi

    Leave it a while and then contact her. Inform her that you have issues with some of her beliefs but you would like to work to overcome those hurdles if that is what you want. 10 years is a long time.

    To me, it sounds like she has undergone some theological transmutation & morphed into some religious acolyte. You will never hear the end of it if you give them half a chance.

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    • e51pegasi

      And please. before anyone starts on some pro religious diatribe, your faith is yours. With the greatest of respect, let's keep it that way.

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  • Thank you for all your responses, I disagree with some but hearing another perspective helped none the less. I have decided to message Sarah telling her that we need to talk about her comments and how upsetting and offensive they were in hopes of resolving this.

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  • RoseIsabella

    Is your friend a "born-again" Christian, because I often find them to be hella weird.

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  • Quasar

    To be blunt. The Bible says homosexuality is a sin. It also states a lot of things people do is a sin. So everyone guilty.

    I'm a Christian myself and I have a few gay friends with no issue because the Bible instructs us to not judge others for sins when you are not innocent yourself. It also says to love your neighbor regardless of their life. Jesus loves everyone and at the end of the day while it is a Christian's job to share the good news, what happens next is between that person and God.

    Give it time then call her. If your friendship recovers great, if not don't dwell on it.

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    • Can't wait to go to hell. It'll be a hot gay orgy with lots of shrimp and mixed fabrics.

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      • Quasar

        Hell won't be anything short of gnashing teeth and fire and brimstone oh_no. That being said I can't make you believe anything. I will pray that you find the light. Have a nice day.

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        • Kinky.

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      • noid

        Lol at oh_no. A lot of non bible readers won't understand your comment but it is funny. Thanks for the smile this morning.

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    • AvrilLavigne

      Hi Quasar, I totally agree with your comment.

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      • Quasar

        Thank you AvrillLavigne

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  • Dustyair

    I see nothing "homophobic" here at all. I'm an athiest and I don't care for homosexuality either, it's quite common for most people. They just don't show it because they'll be shouted down with hateful slurs like "homophobe".

    So, she's done nothing wrong, and broken no laws.

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    • redrainbow22

      I agree. It's just her beliefs, and if she sees it that way then she does.

      Just because she sees it that way, doesnt automatically mean she hates anyone for it.

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      • Ellenna

        Oh, right, the old "hate the sin but not the sinner" line: if she believes it's a sin then she believes her friend is a sinner and that's judgmental and intolerant

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        • Dustyair

          No it's not, it's simply her belief. You're the one who sounds judgmental and intolerant now.......

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        • redrainbow22

          That phrase is the truth.

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    • Ellenna

      It's not about breaking laws, it's about being intolerant and if you "don't care" for homosexuality then you're just as intolerant and you give the rest of us atheists a bad name.

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  • Pink-pumpkin

    That's her belief and it is a common belief to many religions. If you expect everyone to accept your lifestyle or sexual preferences you should also try to accept the point of view on the other side of the wall. Don't try to change someone else's belief because it isn't in accordance to your philosophy. She's your best friend, try to understand her and fix your friendship, you've been with each other for so long.

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  • StrangeHuman

    If she can't respect who you are then you don't need to be her friend, friends except you no matter what, even if they disagree. She was disrespectful about you're preferences. I'm not saying you should end the friendship or that you should keep it, do what makes you happy. Maybe tell her it was upsetting for you and not to do it again.

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    • Ellenna

      I agree with your post except for the last sentence: not doing it again won't alter the fact that the "friend" regards OP as a sinner

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  • barstool

    Seems a hell of a shame for a 10 year friendship to go down the shitter over this.

    I think you'll have to hash it out with her. Maybe you can reach an "agree to disagree" situation, where it's understood that some topics are just off limits for discussion. Maybe she's can be entitled to her views, but she's not entitled to offend everyone in the room. So she more or less has to keep them to herself unless invited to share them?
    Not sure if she'd agree to that though.

    It's a shame, because obviously she's just fallen in with a bad crowd. But I want to think that you won't give up on her, yaknow? Even though you've lost respect for her - that's just the crazy she is now, don't forget the underlying person she's always been.

    But if she keeps going with the craziness, there's a limit to how far that can go without hurting the friendship.

    Edit: oops Didn't see your responses. How did it go?

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    • She acted shocked that I took offence to her comments repeatedly insisting that she's "not homophobic" but still said it was a sin to be gay and tried to justify it with weak arguments that "its one of many sins" and "sin doesn't mean a bad thing". I asked her what sin meant and she said "separation from God", I asked her to define separation from God and she looked awkward and said she couldn't.

      She said its a sin in the bible and she can't be a Christian if she doesn't follow the whole bible, I pointed out that she doesn't follow the whole bible anyway and has cherry picked out the homophobic part, to which she again looked awkward and had no response.

      She told me that the whole weekend at the coast had been on the morality of homosexuality concluding that it was a sin, to which I told her bluntly that it sounded like indoctrination. No prizes for guessing what she did- looked awkward and had no counter-argument.

      She sounded like she was just regurgitating the homophobic arguments they had spoon-fed her without understanding or thinking about them, so I calmly got up, told her to go away, do some research on LGBT christians, educate herself on all the parts of the bible that she doesn't follow and get back to me.

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      • barstool

        Oh man...*sigh* the whole weekend was spent her being spoon-fed and absorbing this rubbish...jesus christ. I mean, um ....shit (hate to *blaspheme!!)

        I think you handled it pretty much the best anyone could have. It's kind of up to her at this point, I guess.

        Cos it's like, she's just had her head filled with all this rubbish, so of course the first thing she does is go out into the world and...spread it. Not excusing her, but I almost feel sorry for her - again, it doesn't make it ok. But I'm thinking that underneath it all she's confused. She probably walks away from the indoctrination camp 100% sure of her anti-gay convictions, then talks to you and (as you say) gets stumped, awkwardly fumbles and doesn't have clear answers.
        Hopefully that's enough to make her realise she doesn't know everything, so at the very least maybe she should pipe down a bit and be a bit less....zealous.

        Cos most of us go through stages of trying things out, right? Figuring out who we are, so hopefully she's just doing that. It's just that when we're young and open minded we're also easy to be taken advantage of, manipulated and have our brain's warped...

        Anyway....You done good, as far as I can tell. Nothing more you can do, I don't think.

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        • Cheers for your response, I'm hoping this is just a phase and in time she'll realise that homophobia is not a pre-requisite for Christianity.

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      • Ellenna

        You handled that really well and gave her a lot to think about: with any luck she'll turn her brain back on and forget about the indoctrination she's been exposed to

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        • Thanks Ellenna I hope so too.

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      • e51pegasi

        Good for you. Are you expecting her to get back to you?

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        • I think she will, I've watched Sarah have fallouts in the past and she's never just walked away from a friendship without it either getting fixed or being dragged out into round after round of drama. This time I'm obviously hoping for the former scenario, but I have to accept that it will probably take some time.

          Thanks for your responses by the way I have, for better or for worse, read every comment on this post and you've been a nice level-headed voice.

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          • e51pegasi

            Thank you & good luck.

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  • nikkiclaire

    Bullshit story. I am bisexual and have never had a problem at Church.

    Your "friend", if she exists, is an idiot and misrepresenting what she is learning.

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    • Ellenna

      You've been lucky then because MANY churches, especially fundamentalist ones, DO talk shit about gay people and obviously OP's "friend" is being brainwashed by such intolerant people

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      • Dustyair

        The whole story is just a troll festival. I see a lot of brainwashing done from our "schools" to television shows pushing homosexuality on people. It fucks up their heads because it's so unnatural for many people, they go against their own true selves. Maybe you forgot, we sustain the species thru heterosexuality, not homo.
        Our story teller is the only one pushing brainwashing here.

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        • Ellenna

          So you're suggesting an account of someone disrespecting and insulting someone for their sexuality, based on religious views, cannot possibly be true?

          Who is pushing homosexuality on people to the extent they go against their true selves? Give me just one example, I dare you!

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      • nikkiclaire

        I'm not lucky. I have knowledgable pastors who understand the bible and understand their role.

        Just because dipshits take things out of context, doesn't mean religious scholars do.

        A pastor or any religious leader who lays judgement is committing a grevious sin or blasphemy and I have yet to meet one who does that intentionally. They are spiritual guides.

        Turn off the televangelists and go to Church.

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    • Sadly it's not a made up story. Out of interest what made you think it was?

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      • nikkiclaire

        It is a text book setup to rail against religion and Christianity, which is why I thought it bs.

        If not, sorry. Ignorant people, like your friend, spouting off about religion gives it a bad name.

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      • Dustyair

        I call bullshit, just another fake oppressed gay story.

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  • mia500

    You can remind her that the Bible also says to “love thy neighbor” meaning stop hating people just because of an orientation. Otherwise, I think that is completely worth being upset over

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  • pendletonGibbs

    It's okay, Christians are terrible people anyway.

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  • Aethylfritha

    Imo its ok to disagree on certain things. She is young and will likely change her world veiws. But i wouldnt necessarily stop being friends unless youre gay or shes actively being anti gay. Thought/ opinion is not a crime

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    • Ellenna

      Read the post again: OP clearly states in the first paragraph that she's bisexual and her "friend" knows that.

      No-one's talking about anything being a crime, but OP has every right to feel uncomfortable continuing to be fiends with someone who regards her as a sinner.

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  • Ummitsme

    The only sinning I see in that story is the three of you patronizing the devil's coffee shop.

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    • Ellenna

      What are you talking about? What "three of you" and what coffee shop????

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      • nikkiclaire

        "Sarah", the "work collegue " and O.P met at a Starbucks where this event occurred.

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        • Ummitsme

          Lol yup ;)

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  • Don't give up on her, try to save her from this new church. I smell indoctrination.

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  • Annie25

    I can understand the mental pressure that you are going through.
    10 years of respect and a lovely friendship you find out this is what she actually is.
    Bibles tells you a lots of shit.
    It blames women for rape and also supports the woman being married off to the rapist. And, as you said, 2 people being in love is simply love why the discrimination? If god plans was so perfect why dint the god himself prevent this from happening in the first place.
    Lets face the truth all religious books are nothing but items of disruptions of peace.

    Whereas your friend, whatever she is saying are just what she is being taught by those pedos.

    What I think is you should consider a last and a healthy talk.
    Talk to her about this. Because this is about your respect. Your self image, you cannot let anyone ruin that. Talk to her, and if she does not accept whoever you are ,your choice and instead calls you a sinner, its better to leave. For you. For your self respect. She is the one making lame and nonsensical statements which you do not deserve in anyway.

    This will not be easy I understand but you have to move on.
    Somethings are better left halfway.

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  • That was a very assholish thing to say. Even if she does not agree with people being gay, she should still show respect. People can be born gay, and its really not their fault. Even if you don't agree with being gay, you should still show love. The bible itself actually talks about showing love and letting god be the one to judge. Try telling her that.
    And I wouldn't end a friendship over one argument.

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  • Babygirl17

    Its OK to be gay or strait. I love all people no matter if you are gay or strait. I believe all has a place in gods heart. Your friend might not have meant to hurt your feelings. The bible also says no piercings or markings on your body and I have earrings so I did a sin. Everyone has done at least 3 sins in there life. Don't let your friend make you feel like that.

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  • bigbudchonga

    This is her view, I agree it's a distasteful one. But she has the right to have it and she doesn't seem to be the one whose allowing her belifes about sexuality to get in the way of the friendship. It's pretty ironic but in this the one whose being more intolerant here is you. My nan's a Jehovah's Witness and she always goes on about far off stuff like this. The way to change someone's mind is through debate, it's a pretty biggoted an intolerant person who would break up a 10 year friendship over a diversity of opinion.

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  • myfreakinopinion

    Be grateful for the times your friend have spent together, accept that her and you are on different paths in life, people don't stay the same forever, they eventually evolve and change, life is too short.

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  • Ellenna

    "Religion poisons everything" said the late great Christopher Hitchens

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  • Kingslayer429

    I say just give it some time

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  • Pumpurrnickel

    Well, she didn't tell you her views for a solid decade. Clearly she cares about you and knew to not bring that up. I think you should still be friends. It doesn't sound like it's too late.

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    • She didn't tell me her view because until recently she's has no issue with LGBT people, she could very easily had not brought it up in Starbucks but she did, causing extreme offence and damage to our friendship.

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      • Pumpurrnickel

        But she messaged you. She still wants to talk with you. Just tell her to keep that to herself. If she has a problem with your sexuality and continues to show that, that's your signal to break apart, in my opinion.

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        • bigbudchonga

          Recluded I completely agree.

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      • Ellenna

        She was disrespectful and insulting and unless she gets away from the bullshit religion she's involved in, I'd be ending the friendship if I were you

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        • nikkiclaire

          Why is it religions fault that she is a rude idiot?

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          • Ellenna

            Because the brand of religion she's been recently exposed to has influenced her to the extent of treating her longterm friend with disrespect

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          • Pumpurrnickel

            I've been wondering why religion triggers her so much for a while now. I think she might've been raped with a bible or something. Almost every post having to do with religion, she leaves a comment about how stupid, bullshit, delusional, etc. it is. My point is, I wouldn't bother asking her or talking to her about religion. She doesn't listen to the other side.

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            • Ellenna

              Who is "she"?

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  • Nickvey

    it is not Ok to hate christians idiot. you are blaming her when she is not god.

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