Faith is not the problem. In fact, it may be part of the answer.

Beth Stroud, the lesbian minister who lost powers as a clergy member for openly admitting she had an affair with another woman, spoke on Thursday about her experiences at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center. More than a year ago, Stroud was tried and found guilty of engaging in "practices that are incompatible with Christian teachings" by a United Methodist Church trial court.

She noted on Thursday that she risked losing her ministerial credentials in order to take a stand against the church's doctrines and be her "whole self."

Stroud's story is just one example of how some are keeping their faith in God while opposing ideologies pushed by their respective church hierarchy.

Religion should be a set of beliefs that are reasonable enough so that someone can follow them.

It should contain beliefs that are practical in today's changing society. Foremost, it should contain beliefs that transcend the changing face of our secular society.

People of different religions are realizing that their religious ideologies may not be as by-the-book as they used to be.

In an attempt to deal with this conflict, people are opening up and speaking out, realizing that loving all other people is more important than following the rules of a group.

Stroud also shows the opposite of how many people view the battles over gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered issues.

Often, same-sex marriage and other gay and lesbian issues are not seen correctly because they are viewed with the wrong mentality: They are seen as a battle of religion versus society.

However, especially in modern times, these battles are not only external -- they now are internal, taking place within religions.

It takes people like Stroud, with a strong faith and fervor to stand up for her beliefs, to fight this battle within religions.

It is comforting to see that someone can paint contemporary issues in religion in a more positive light. Most importantly, there is nothing wrong with religion.

However, when the practicing of one's religious scriptures suddenly blinds a person from the underlying theme of that faith -- in this case, to love all other people as God made them -- then maybe it's time for that person to take a step back and re-examine what they really are practicing.

Are they simply following a set of rules just because that's what they've been told to do? If that's the case, then that's not what religion should be all about.

But because of people like Beth Stroud and others, we can thank God that it can be so much more.