As if life in America today is not bad enough, of all things, we are now being subjected to a war between the religious right and gays over whether or not the institution of marriage for gays and lesbians should be recognized under the laws of this Nation. Unfortunately, for those of us who prefer to walk in the middle of the road, because this issue is now appearing as a constitutional amendment in many elections throughout the Nation, we are forced to choose between one side or the other. As fate would have it, because of the gender differences between the two kinds of marriage and the fact that there are more heterosexuals around than lesbians and homosexuals combined, in California, Florida, and Arizona the religious right won at the ballot box and this perpetuated a strong backlash from the gay and lesbian communities. This battle lines are drawn, people are flocking to the barricades and voices of reason are being shouted down by both sides. What’s a citizen to do? What would Jesus do?
These are difficult questions to answer because the issue boils down to semantics. No one, except the very far right, argues that gays and lesbians should not have equal rights under the law and should not be allowed to enter into what are known as civil unions. The problem is that gays want a civil union to be called a marriage under the law. In opposition, the religious right believes that the term marriage, under the law, should be reserved exclusively for heterosexual unions. To gays the issue is one of civil rights and equal treatment under the law and to the religious right, the issue is one of protecting the institution of marriage. This is where the worm turns. By voting to restrict the use of the word “marriage” to heterosexual relationships, Americans believe they are not being anti-gay, but instead are protecting an institution which is the backbone of our society.
Before proceeding, it is necessary to clear the air. From my perspective, proponents of both sides of this issue are placing far too much importance on what they believe to be true. If everything available under the law to heterosexuals is also available to gays and the only exception to this is the name we assign to their particular kind of union then, with the exception of this restriction, they are being treated equally under the law. However, forcing the issue by not allowing gays the right to call their unions a marriage is significant and boils down to the discredited separate but equal argument used by southerners to keep blacks in place during the first part of this past century. Your equal, but you are not equal enough to use the word marriage to describe your relationships and we are going to use the law to see that you don’t. On the other side of the coin, if the law permits gays to call their union a marriage, contrary to the posturing of Christian ministers and clergy, it is no threat to the institution of marriage. The words used to describe things can never be a threat to the thing being described because there is no causal relationship what-so-ever between a thing and its name. The connection between something and its name is in our minds only and it is absurd to hold that if gays are allowed to call their unions a marriage, heterosexual couples will not want to get married any more. This argument implies that gay unions are so contemptuous that they will soil the name “marriage” such that heterosexuals will not only refuse to use it, but will shun the institution itself. This is absurd!
What would Jesus say? Jesus would hold that homosexuality and lesbianism is a sin before God. Having settled this, it is important to realize what Jesus would say is not pertinent to the issue on hand. The pertinent question is what would Jesus do? Jesus taught tolerance in all things and in keeping with this it is reasonable to conclude that He would not condone or sanction a group of narrow minded individuals changing a constitution so as to deny a particular group of his children the right to use whatever name they wish for their unions. Furthermore, Jesus would condemn the unmitigated gall of people who use the power of the state to tell other people how to live their lives even if the people in question are living in sin. Morality is not an acceptable basis for law and codifying morality into law offends God. Furthermore, doing this not only is it un-American, it is un-Christian as well. When will Fundamentalist Christians learn that Jesus endorsed the separation of church and state when he said render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to render unto God what is Gods? Morality is the province of God and civil law which is enforced through the barrel of gun, has no place in the kingdom of God. We live moral lives because we love God, not because some cretin with a gun says we should.
A constitution is a document which establishes government, delineates how it will function, and enumerates the various rights and privileges of citizens which government should not infringe upon. In no way shape or form is a constitution supposed to tell citizens how to behave or what they should and should not do. To include such provisions in a constitution is a perversion of the document and sets a dangerous precedent whereby the majority is able to tyrannize the minority. Furthermore, no constitution worth the paper it is written on will permit legislators to enact a laws such that one group of people have the right to use a particular word under the law while another does not. To think otherwise is absurd. How can such a hypocritical state of affairs be justified from a legal or rational point of view? Doing so legislates that one group of people is superior to a different group of people and the thing that establishes superiority is superiority in numbers. How would heterosexuals feel if gays became the majority and turned the tables by voting to reserve word marriage exclusively to same sex unions? The bottom line is that tyranny should never be tolerated under the law even if the tyranny is against gays because whether you realize it or not, tyranny against gays is tyranny against all of us.
No government or group of people has a right to force their conceptions of morality on others. If you believe that homosexuality and lesbianism is a sin, you have a right to not engage in these activities. However, you do not have a right to tell others to live like you and even more important, you do not have the right to ask our government to do this for you. Obviously, the circumstances are such in America today this wrongful state of affairs has been established not just under the law, but within state constitutions as well. You can rest assured that God condemns these actions because they usurp His authority and because His plan is to have us live free of tyranny and compulsion. As Christians, our lot in life is love each other and be tolerant. And yes, this extends to gays and lesbians. Like us, they are God’s children and to demonize them is wrong and sinful.
_________________
Life is a function of mind over matter, if you have no mind it doesn't matter. |
