More than 3 years ago I wrote a short article titled, “Homosexuals are Right About Marriage.” The premise of my post was simple–the beauty of marriage is not found in a state sanctioned contract, but in the Divine-covenant established in creation. A lot has changed in 3 short years. The latest news shows the growing acceptance of gay marriage in America.
Maine’s governor signed a freshly passed bill Wednesday approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region.
New Hampshire legislators were also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor, who hasn’t indicated whether he’ll sign it. If he does, Rhode Island would be the region’s sole holdout.
The recent passage of the “everything but marriage” bill, in my former state of Washington is not far behind these other states. Still, click on the map to the right, and you will see that other politicians and activists are pushing back and taking political action to prevent further movement toward gay marriage.
Wicker, a freshman senator, said 19 states have passed laws and 26 states amended their constitutions to “protect traditional marriage.”
“Rather than giving unelected activist judges the opportunity to legislate from the bench, this amendment will reaffirm what most Americans believe — marriage is between a man and a woman,” Wicker said.
– A psychologist in Georgia was fired after she declined for religious reasons to counsel a lesbian about her relationship.
– Christian fertility doctors in California who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian patient were barred by the state Supreme Court from invoking their religious beliefs in refusing treatment.
– A Christian student group was not recognized at a University of California law school because it denies membership to anyone practicing sex outside of traditional marriage.
Within the Christian community there is a small, but growing, contingent who have chosen to align themselves with the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered community. This billboard from Missiongathering Church in California takes a strong stand that any church which opposes gay marriage is “narrow-minded, judgmental, deceptive, and manipulative.”
You can read an interview with their pastor Alex Roller to get more info. But clearly, not all religious traditions share the same values and approach to marriage as a social contract.
With all of these radical changes to the social structure coming so quickly, I find myself, a resident of California, compelled to write a few short articles on this topic. I say compelled because my biggest concern is that in writing about gay marriage in America, it will become too much the focus of this blog or my faith in general. Despite this concern, I find it necessary to speak out.
…it is the duty of the Church to exemplify her teachings in this respect in her own social life. Example is stronger than precept. Social injustice, social sins, social misery may find no fertile soil, no congenial atmosphere in her midst. A spirit of true brotherhood must prevail. Her erring and wayward should be guided with loving hand to the Cross of Christ and guarded against evil influences. The spirit of Cain should be banished. Her rich should find their chiefest joy in ministering to the poor, thus fulfilling the law of Christ: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, in order that they may once hear the blessed word of our Lord: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” And in that way her poor will become ever increasingly conscious that their Father in heaven provides for them, and their lowly dwellings will resound with the songs of grateful hearts. O what a different world this would already be, if all the members of the Church of Christ lived conscientiously according to the precepts of their heavenly Lord!
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