Forgiving their trespass

Culture: Christian colleges gear up for visits from the activist gay group Soulforce | Jamie Dean

On a cold, rainy morning in the sleepy town of Cleveland, Tenn., Jen Ham huddles with a dozen young adults in dark blue jackets beneath the only picnic shelter in Deer Park and talks about "relentless, redemptive suffering." Ms. Ham, 23, asks the group if they are willing to deny themselves, serve others, and pursue "purity in what we know is right." She tells the group: "God loves each one of us."

It sounds like motivational language for college-age Christians, but across the parking lot a tour bus is emblazoned with the group's true purpose: "End Religion Based Oppression! . . . LGBT Rights." "LGBT" is shorthand for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender," and the bus belongs to Soulforce, a gay-advocacy group that targets the "misuse of religion" to oppose homosexuality.