If you are opposed to gay marriage, there is a good chance
that you consider yourself to be “religious”, which is fantastic! We live in a country that allows us to freely
worship any religion we want to. Many religions
oppose gay marriage – Christians, Jews, Muslims, Mormons – it’s a chance for multiple
Venn Diagrams to intersect. Even though
it is a mostly religious issue, we’ve made it a matter of US Law as well, which
is interesting. Not even the Ten
Commandments are enforced legally, but somehow we have managed to sustain a
faith based argument against the legal rights of Americans who are not otherwise
forced to subscribe to any religious philosophy.
I am not assuming to tell you where to stand on this issue. Well, no.
I guess I am, but I don’t assume I’m going to change anyone’s mind. That's what makes us "religious", am I right? What I WOULD like to do, it offer 3 other
issues to solve that make more sense than waging a war on legal gay monogamy.
#1. Divorce – What greater threat to marriage is there than
DIVORCE! For the past 40 years, over half of
American marriages have ended in divorce.
I propose that if gay marriage is illegal, so must we outlaw divorce. Jesus clearly defined most divorce as
adultery. You would think that the Christian sensibilities of US voter’s would have ended Newt Gingrich’s campaign dead in its
tracks. Instead, he was applauded when he
said he wanted to stick to the issues whenever the subject was brought up. Yet the same verse than most Christians believes condemns homosexuality would condemn him on the exact same level, if not worse, as many believe the homosexuality in questions specifically refers to temple prostitution and rape, not committed relationships.Clarification: I am not using this point to judge the divorced population in the US, but to point out the irony of opposing gay marriage when clearly less than half of the country really cares about its "sanctity".
#2. Prostitution – Most people seem to forget that
prostitution is legal in the US. It is
localized to a specific section of Nevada, but the US Government legally condones
prostitution in the US. Somehow, this is
never a political hot button come election season. I would sooner vote for a President who is
absolutely opposed to prostitution than one that opposes symbolic gestures of
lifelong monogamy between two same-sex partners. However, year after year, there is a specific lack of outrage from the Christian community on a national level to oppose prostitution on a Federal level.
#3. Starvation – Tony Campolo, an evangelical minister and
leader of the Red-Letter Christian movement, has a quote:
“I
have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last
night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition.
Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset
with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”
While 1 out of 6 American’s
struggle with hunger, while 15 million US children live in poverty, while that
number grows and grows every year, the response from the political right about taxes and social programs is that it is socialism. The politically conservative have fought against public healthcare options because they don't feel it is their responsibility to pay for the medical bills of the presently uninsured, even though we are the last industrial nation to provide a public health care option. However, lets consider Luke 3:11: “Anyone who
has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food
should do the same.” The
government cannot force people to follow this Bible verse, but it sees gay
marriage as a threat to the American way of life.
Imagine two American
Nations: one that successfully suppresses gay marriage but allows millions to
starve, and another nation that effectively uses its wealth to feed the poor
and care for the sick but allowed gay marriage.
Which of those two nations do you feel God will judge more harshly?
Really makes you wonder what we as Christians
really give a “shit” about, as Tony Campolo would put it.
