Readers of The Butler Eagle have witnessed a rare phenomenon in recent weeks.

It began with a distant atrocity: an attack June 12 inside a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., that left 49 dead and 53 wounded.

People worldwide grieved the senseless killings.

A small handful of Butler’s ministerial community have sought to honor the dead by reintroducing a proposed ordinance that would make it a crime to discriminate against LGBT individuals. In June they petitioned the city council to resurrect the ordinance, which was defeated in 2011, a majority of council members at the time considering the measure unnecessary.

In the ensuing six weeks there have been passionate and well-reasoned arguments presented on both sides of the debate. The Eagle’s editorial pages have included opinion columns representing those in favor and opposed, offering practical, legal, religious and economic perspectives.

In most circumstances there’s little room for theological discussions on a community editorial page. The issue has presented an exception to the rule.

First, it’s fascinating that two diametrically opposed points of view can argue their position from the same authoritative text. God is love and mercy. God is might and justice. Judge not lest ye be judged; but know ye not that we shall judge angels? (yes, it says so — 1 Corinthians 6:3).

Second and far more important, the ongoing debate has not included any public expressions of anger, hate or condemnation. Certainly there must be some mistrust and suspicion of one-anothers’ motives, and it’s likely some private sniping and verbal potshots have been taken — the potential price to pay for exercising one’s freedom to take a stand on any controversial issue. That seems inevitable.

Some of the conservative pastors who oppose the ordinance point out that they don’t hate LGBT individuals or groups. Many in the LGBT community probably assume these pastors — and their congregations — do indeed despise them, or at least condemn them.

Maybe they just don’t know each other very well.

It’s also noteworthy that many conservative churches advocate and support Israel. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could turn to the local manifestation of Israel — Congregation B’nai Abraham and its spiritual leader, Cantor Michal Gray Schaffer — for Hebrew language, cultural lessons or other enrichment, even though Gray Schaffer has taken a lead role in pushing for the anti-discrimination ordinance?

Friendships can endure differences of opinion.

This is an ideal opportunity to state the obvious: that the values and virtues which unite us are much greater than the opinions and perspectives that divide us.

Those who are involved in the LGBT debate can take pride in the fact that they have not resorted to personal attack or condemnation. They understand that they are not enemies on opposing sides of a battlefield, just neighbors who disagree passionately on an important issue.