Differences between friends

We sat outside the coffee shop, the slight breeze ruffling the umbrella that shaded our table on a pleasant sunny morning.  He held his coffee to his lips, pensive, his gaze far away, his  mind turning.

"We are different, you and I, and yet we remain close friends..."

Curious, I simply smiled.

"Why don't you hate me?"

"Why would I hate you?", I replied, a bit taken aback. Where was this going?

"I am Christian, against abortion, and I dislike homosexuality, the Holy Trifecta," he said smiling, "the polar opposite of your blasphemous positions."

"I think you would agree that's stating things a bit simplistically, " I offered, laughing, "but yes, I dislike those things about your beliefs. They are not who you are, they are merely parts of the whole. I enjoy the whole, even if I disklike some parts. I recognize that your beliefs form who you are to some degree, but I like you still for the rest."  After a moment, I added,  "I would counter that I dislike you no more than you dislike me for being, as you say, opposite, on these things. You are entitled to have these beliefs, as I am entitled to have an opposing position. If those beliefs were to become who you are, than yes, we would likely have little common ground."

"Hmmm... How is it you don't believe in God, accept abortion and are not abhorred by homosexuality?" , he asked, "Can't you see how wrong these are?"

"It would be easy to return the question, why do you feel as you do on these things, but I know you can't answer them in a way that would satisfy me. I have no reason to believe in god, certainly a god as defined by Christianity, and I am troubled by what religion brings to the human equation. I don't like abortion, but I do not think it is an issue for us men to debate with any integrity, and while I don't find homosexuality attractive, I would offer it is not for me to deny. I could not care less about someone being LGBT. It simply doesn't bother me.", I replied. "I wonder how different you might be in your thinking and feelings without your god; who would you be without god?"

"I can't imagine life without God."

"And I am diappointed in a world with god...", I said. "And I think this is really our only difference."