Opinion, Volume 8 number 12, December 2006, by Neal Matson
The Missionary Position: On Gay Marriage
God bless America. How many times have we heard politicians end their public pronouncements with that prayerful benediction?
Most clergy understand that God may answer such a prayer in one of four ways: 1) with a yes, 2) with a no, 3) by having us wait, or 4) with something different. The latter is unanticipated but is always better for us in the long run.
Well, with November's national election results, God certainly has blessed America. He finally rebuked the hypocrites who were embarrassing Him. Let us keep praying that those right-wing fundamentalists continue to lose their lemming-powered leverage within the electorate.
Jesus weighed in on this way back in Matthew 23:23-24 when He told the religious leaders of His day, “Woe to you, …you hypocrites! You…have neglected the more important matters…justice (and) mercy…. You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel."
The "gnat" that the religious right wishes to strain out of America and makes such a fuss about is gay marriage. (The other "gnat" this election season, stem cell research, we discussed in September 2006.)
The "camels" those hardly-holy hypocrites swallow in order to vote GOP include: a war of aggression based on lies, corruption, enhancing the overprivileged, debasing science, unlimited imprisonments, torture, rendition, secret prisons, warrantless wiretaps, secrecy to avoid responsibility, etc. Jesus is clearly telling us to put things in perspective.
Gay marriage has been legal in Massachusetts for two years now with no ill effect on society or traditional marriages. I cannot see how any gay marriage could have any impact whatsoever on my own marriage of twenty-six wonderful (yup, all of 'em) years. If Newt Gingrich's sister wants to marry Dick Cheney's daughter I really don't care because it won't affect me one iota.
The religious right's real agenda is intolerance based on fear. Because they believe homosexuality is a conscious choice, they must stop it from influencing anyone's sexuality. Paul Cameron, a conservative Christian psychologist, said that he feared gay sex would supplant heterosexual sex because "marital sex is boring, and generally it doesn't deliver the kind of sheer sexual pleasure that homosexual sex does. The evidence is that men do a better job on men, and women on women." (The Washington Monthly, May 1999, p. 56) Don't let them know about it or they might try it and like it. They have the same approach to sex education—ignorance, oops, abstinence only.
The real threat to marriage is divorce. According to the Bible, the only grounds for divorce is adultery (Matthew 5:32). Where is the religious right's outrage and activism against divorce? US Census data disclose that the highest rates of divorce are in the red states in the heart of the Bible belt. A poll of pastors shows that twelve percent have "had sexual intercourse with someone other than (their) spouse" (Focus on the Family's Pastor's Family Bulletin, July/Aug 1999, p. 3). That's one out of eight. Among my own clerical acquaintances the ratio is even higher. Jesus says, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Luke 6:42)
Same-sex couples should have the same legal rights as heterosexual couples. I prefer the term "civil union" to "gay marriage" and have to do a mental double-take when a female is introduced as a "husband" or a male as a "wife". I think the term "spouse" is appropriate for all same-sex partners. The State of Alaska already recognizes "spousal equivalents" on the official candidate's disclosure form required by APOC.
The Bible does not condone homosexuality. It is one sin among many, including: lying, greed, envy, gossiping, slander, arrogance, causing dissension, destroying the earth, and many more. We can all find our own sins somewhere in the Bible and that can help us understand that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jesus can remove that sin from us. Christianity is just that simple. Jesus erases bad karma.
What if a gay friend or relative of mine wished to be married and asked me to perform the ceremony? I have thought about this quite a bit and, although I would be willing to marry a heterosexual couple without a marriage license, I do not think I could marry a gay couple even with one. I would attend the celebration, however, because I believe everyone has a right to love and to publicly commit that love to another.
Personally, as a straight male, I have much less of an adverse reaction to female homosexuality than I do to the male variety. Both this and my reluctance to officiate a gay wedding make me feel a little hypocritical, but they're my positions and I'm sticking to them. | ||
 | | |
