So President Obama came out finally in support of Gay Marriage. I'd love to have some conversations about this! I actually can see people who think being gay is a sin & those who don't both potentially support gay marriage. I don't think when it comes to civil rights Christians never can support anything they don't agree with morally as a Christian. Unless we want to be like the muslims & enforce a Christian version of Sharia law. I hope that is not what we are shooting for.
One of my favorite authors is Tony Campolo. I just think he is amazing. I'm not exactly sure where he stands on all the gay issues but he used to think it was okay to be a Christian & be gay, but then you would need to be celibate. His wife disagreed & thought that being gay was okay with God & so was marriage. Neither one of course would go for sleeping around for either heterosexuals or homosexuals. So here was a husband & wife that had differing views. They actually would do debates on college campuses with each other and interact with the crowd. I would have loved to have taken in one of those meetings. Basically Tony thought the "acting out" of homosexuality was a sin but that you could still be a Christian and be a homosexual. Being that way was fine as long as you didn't act on it. For many years this was the "middle ground" stance. I'm not sure where he stands today so I wouldn't want to speak for him but that had been his stance for a long long time.
When asked about Gay marriage recently he kind of turned the question around. What we are arguing is should the STATE allow this. Its not the church issue at all. He has been saying that he doesn't know why the Government EVER was allowed into the "marriage" business. Marriage should be a church thing. Any church should be able to follow their convictions regarding marriage and be free to marry or not marry anyone they want. Then likewise, the Government can do unions for whoever they want. Religion doesn't even need to play a part in it if people don't want it to.
I found this compelling. Why are the state & church so intertwined on marriage? Should they be. Isn't this why we wanted separation of church & state in the first place. And by fighting against gay marriage with it being so intertwined could we be setting ourselves up to be forced to marry someone against our convictions?
I'm just saying that maybe be fighting for fair rights for ALL, we can keep the great freedoms we have in our country. To be religious if you want to be or to feel free not to be religious. And if you're not religious why should the church be involved in marriage at all? Why should I pronounce someone husband & wife by the power invested in me by the state? What do they have to do with marriage? And what does the church have to do with civil unions? And if a church wants to do gay marriages why shouldn't they be allowed to do so?
I just think there should be equality for all. There is plenty of space for all of us to freely live our lives with minimal government involvement. There is plenty of space for religious people & non religious people. My opinion is that we have to stop trying to FORCE ourselves on the other side. Why should anyone be offended when someone puts up a nativity scene on their property or the lights on a skyscraper they own be in the shape of a cross. Why should anyone be offended by that. In the same manner, why do we as Christians have to be offended by gay marriage. No minister or church is going to be forced to perform marriages they don't want to. There are many rules that many churches have on marriage. Some church will not do weddings if either of the two getting married has been divorced. The government doesn't step in then, & they won't with the gay issue either.
Love to hear what you all think? Questions? Answers? Solutions? Other ideas? Fire away!
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