Gay marriage: no threat to my faith

 During every recent election cycle, we have heard about “attacks” on the institution of marriage from bloviating politicians promising to protect it.  They urge us to stand up for traditional Christian values against the destructive “anti-family” gay agenda.  All because gay people want to get married.   What is a socially conscious Christian to do?

Take a step back and a deep breath.  Are these folks really “fighting for marriage?” Of course not.  No one is threatening to outlaw anyone’s marriage.  If the issue truly was about defending and strengthening the institution, would we not hear one of these “defenders” of marriage calling for a Constitutional Amendment banning divorce or a law to increase the penalties for deadbeat parents?  If marriage were only for the purpose of biologically continuing human existence, would we not hear calls to ban sterile or post-menopausal people from marrying, or to ban all adoptions, for that matter?    The truth is that these people are not actually defending marriage from anything—indeed, there is no real threat. They are attacking people they do not like because of a difference in religious belief.  Sadly, religion is often a convenient and effective tool for deliberate division. 

These people are terrified.  For years, they have successfully stereotyped homosexuals as godless, immoral, unpatriotic, and promiscuous. Now the gays want to attend church, raise children, serve proudly in the military, and get married. They tell us the gays don’t share mainstream America’s values.  But if these values are not in the mainstream, which ones are?

The fundamentalists dominating the gay marriage debate like to frame the issue as a religious one. Liberals and Democrats often scoff at this notion—arguing that the issue at hand is civil rights, plain and simple—but the left has it wrong.  Marriage equality is completely a religious issue.  Almost every opponent of gay marriage is so because of his or her religious beliefs.  They believe being gay is a sin, and they want public policy to reflect their view—to the exclusion of others.    It is important to recognize this because we live in a country where our freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed.  In our great nation, you are free to believe being gay is a sin, and that gay marriage is wrong. You are also free to attend a church that refuses to perform such ceremonies.  I, on the other hand, am free to hold a different religious belief, and to worship with a welcoming and affirming congregation that celebrates love between all committed adults (which, in fact, I do).  Yet another couple is free to get married down at the courthouse, without the blessing of any church.  The government is constitutionally forbidden from forcing me and my church to subscribe the beliefs held by you and yours.  And neither one of us can force the courthouse couple to play by our rules.

There are still churches in our country that refuse to celebrate interracial marriages, and their right to practice this faith is constitutionally protected. But the government, of course, can no longer restrict marriage based on race. In the United States, we have citizens who believe it is wrong to eat pork, or beef, or any meat at all on Fridays. Some Americans don’t believe in working on the Sabbath, be it Saturday or Sunday.  Some believe it is wrong for a woman to cut her hair short, wear pants, or speak in church.  Yet we hear of no plans for a Constitutional amendment to ban bacon or Sunday afternoon football games.  Using the religious restrictions of some to form the law that governs all is profoundly undemocratic, and contrary to everything for which our country stands.  It is also not demonstrative of a humble walk with God.   Spiritual and scriptural disagreements are all right, even necessary.  But amending our Constitution to single out a group of people—identifiable only by an involuntary characteristic—and deny them a specific right, based on religious opinion?  This is the beginning of the end.  It is the slipperiest of slopes.  No matter what your belief, a government which behaves like this will eventually come after people like you, whenever you are unlucky enough to find yourself in the minority. 

Allowing others the right to a marriage will not nullify yours or mine.  No straighties will be forced into gay marriages.  And no churches will be forced to perform them.  So instead of fighting to force our scriptural interpretations onto one another, how about concentrating on the universal message of Jesus—that we are called to serve one another, and that the Lord will judge us on how we treat the “least of these.”
This is one straight, Christian American who will answer the call to stand up and fight for marriage, but for everyone.  And in the mean-time, let us all remember that Christianity is not a tool for political division, but rather the most unifying message every delivered unto humankind.