Discussion about homosexuality and religion causes pain for most people, said Margaret Cook, coordinator of the LGBT Resource Center, at the “Bridging the Divide: A Conversation about Religion and Homosexuality” forum held Wednesday at the United Campus Ministries.

The panelists talked about personal experiences with sexuality and the views of different religious denominations.

“The Church has always fought over and divided over issues of inclusion and exclusion,” said the Rev. Wendy Witt, director of United Campus Ministries for Spirituality and Justice and an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church.

Panel members said the Bible doesn’t say anything specific that proves homosexuality is a sin.

“Christ did say that we are to love as he loved,” Witt said.

Witt said Christ welcomed everyone regardless of who they were as an individual.

Rabbi Maralee Gordon, who serves the Congregation Beth Shalom of DeKalb, said a Jewish value is to “love the stranger as yourself.”

Gordon said people should treat everyone with respect.

The forum was a means to talk about what is taboo, Cook said.

“It is venturing into what is rarely contested and emotionally charged territory,” Cook said.

Even though opponents say being in a homosexual relationship is immoral, Mary Shelden, a lay leader in the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Elgin, said a same-sex relationship is sacred. It is immoral to deny being part such a commitment, she said.

“My sexuality is one of the things that God gave me as a human being,” Shelden said.

Shelden also said gay people have limited people to talk to.

“For gay people, family and church is not a safe haven,” Shelden said.

Cook said she thinks everyone has a right to have different views on the Bible.

Christ has compassion for everyone but most particularly for those not accepted by the society, Cook said.