Washington state just passed legislation making same-sex marriage legal. I posted this photo on Facebook:
A friend of mine responded with two separate comments, first:
24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24
God shows marriage is between one MAN and one WOMAN and nothing else.
And then this:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+7&version=NIV
Instead of bombarding everyone that ends up getting my posts on their Facebook feed, I figured I would respond by writing my response on my blog so that people could more easily choose to skip over it if they wanted to. So, to those interested, my response is as follows:
…I understand what the Bible says. However, this is in essence a political and legal issue. The Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” in the first amendment. This entitles Christians to unabridged religious practices. However, it also entitles those that are not Christians to full practice of their beliefs. That means even people who do not subscribe to any specific religion at all. Banning gay marriage would effectively abridge the rights of some people to practice their personal beliefs. Christians have every right not to recognize a marriage they do not deem to be in keeping with their beliefs, but they do not have the right to force all citizens of their state or country to view those unions the same way.
The 14th amendment says, “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The most important section to note is “no State…shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens…” and that no person should be denied “equal protection of the laws.” Basically, we can’t use the law to discriminate, even though our country has done so over and over again. Unless there is a valid reason determined through due process for why a person should have rights taken away, everyone should have the same rights and privileges. If our laws do not already make this possible, then something must change to make it possible.
I understand that many in the Christian community are concerned about the sanctity of marriage, but there’s definitely a level of hypocrisy here. We haven’t fought to make divorce illegal except for under extreme circumstances. We haven’t fought to keep the construct of marriage as the Bible describes it as a strictly Christian institution either. Marriage in its original element was meant to be a relationship be between a man, a woman, AND God. We seem to forget that one a lot. But as Christians, we haven’t had a problem when a man and a woman get married but have no relationship with God whatsoever and still call it marriage. If Christians really want to protect marriage and take it back to its original purpose, we have to go way farther back than just a few days ago when this new legislation was passed.
Essentially, we are left at this point: civil unions and marriage in Washington state grant more or less the same rights. However, the fact that certain groups could only had one option to make their commitment to one another official and legal while other groups had more than one option goes back to “separate but equal is inherently unequal.” Marriage became a secular institution just as much as a Christian institution a long time ago, so denying some groups that right is unconstitutional and should be illegal.
Now, to step back for a moment. I completely respect the opinions of those in the Christian community who oppose gay marriage. But when thinking on this issue, keep in mind that infringing on another person’s ability to make their own decisions is one of the quickest and best ways to estrange that individual. We want to welcome ALL people into the body of Christ, and trying to control their free will, possibly before they ever even really get to know someone who follows Christ, is far from being welcoming and loving.
God gave us His law and His Word, but He also gave us the free will to choose what we would do with it. If God gave His own creation free will, what right do we have to infringe upon the free will of others?
