Yes, Mark Woods in the UK Understands the USA’s Marriage Challenge

Yes, Mark Woods in the UK Understands the USA’s Marriage Challenge June 26, 2015

Mark Woods:

The immediate consequence of this ruling, then, is an invitation to do some theology. One of the painful things for observers of the evangelical scene on both sides of the Atlantic has been the reluctance of ‘pro-marriage’ (= anti-gay marriage) campaigners to distinguish their idea of the Church from their idea of the state, as though the two were coterminous.

So here’s a discussion starter.

It is entirely up to the state to declare what relationships it will recognise as marriage, and the Church should not have a problem with that.

It is entirely up to the Church to declare what relationships it will recognise as Christian marriage, and the State should not have a problem with that.

The state should jealously guard its prerogative from the Church, and ensure that it provides equality under the law for all its citizens.

The Church should jealously guard its prerogative from the state, and ensure that it is never coerced into bringing its beliefs and practices into line with those of the majority if it doesn’t want to.

Evangelicals (and others) have got themselves into a knot because they think the state is trying to define Christian marriage. It isn’t; it can’t, and it never could. But the long history of Christendom has allowed Christians to think that the two are the same. Most Americans have always been keen on the separation of Church and state; well, now’s the chance to find out whether you mean it.


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