A Truly Decent Proposal

This is the first time I have gone away from short story writing to write about politics in a very long time.  Lets see if I'm a bit rusty.

I feel that I need to express my opinion on this trending issue, despite its inherent controversy, because a) it has become increasingly important in our country and it will no doubt be something my kids will read about in the history books, so its incredibly important how we react to this issue. b) Its an issue that is currently tearing apart many of my brothers and sisters in the Faith all across the country.  Let's be honest, many of us are wondering whether we will be on the wrong side of history on this issue.  The result being that we either see our fellow Christians as too permissive or as too stringent.

Anyways, on to gay marriage.

Before I say anything about my political beliefs, I have to address my own personal convictions about homosexuality in general.  When I was about 17, I changed from being an agnostic to believing that Jesus Christ was the the Messiah, and so I put my trust in the things that He says.  Far from being blind faith, I accept my own humanity and fallibility, and must accept the fact that God, if he truly is the God of the universe, must know better than I do (His ways are not my ways, as the Good Book says).  Therefore, I accept the authority and veracity of the Bible.  

From my reading and study, I cannot agree with the view of some of my fellow Christians that homosexuality is permitted.  In my view, the Bible is quite clear that homosexuality is a deviation from the way that God originally made us to be, and the methods that other Christians have used to prove otherwise are, in my opinion, highly suspect.  I must be intellectually honest with my self and accept that I believe in the Bible, and the Bible says that God (not me, you, or the government) defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

This does not mean, however, that I hate homosexuals.  Even if I were to view them as my enemies, my Savior calls me to love my enemies!  I love my LGBT friends to death and will continue to pray for them and serve them in anyway I can, but I must respectfully disagree with their lifestyle, just as they respectfully disagree with my own views.  I would encourage them to identify themselves in Christ alone, and not in who they have sex with.  

This is where I feel the church has completely failed the LGBT community countless times, in that they have treated them like hopeless outcasts and not sought to receive them with open arms in the same love that our Savior greets us with.  On behalf of the church, I wish I could apologize to all LGBT's for how the church has treated them.  We are far from perfect, and the church has a lot to learn.  However, Christ has not given up on me, despite the countless times I let him down, therefore I have no right to give up on the church, even with its flaws.

With that out of the way, I want to explain what my political views on gay marriage have been for a decent amount of time.  In fact, they are pretty well summed up in this New York Times op-ed piece: "A Decent Proposal"

 As so aptly put by Ron Paul (who never ceases to disappoint me), it's pretty simple: “Get the government out of it."

 The government made a mistake in the very first place by even usurping the authority of declaring what marriage is and isn't.  As this article so aptly puts it, expecting the government to be able to grant something like marriage would be akin to expecting the state to "serve communion or baptize."  Marriage, after all, is a religious concept, not a legal one.  In the eyes of the law, there is no marriage but only civilly bound individuals who share rights to property and other possessions.  Marriage in some parts of Africa is like this, in that it is strictly legal and does not necessarily involve sex or affection.  

Now, if the government were to say, back off from the term marriage and reduce everything to civil unions, this would both give homosexuals the rights they desire and not tarnish anyone's religious beliefs (on a side note, why do you never hear about Islamic beliefs against homosexuality?).  Anyone can therefore by manacled to whoever they please and then take the additional step of legitimizing it through their respected religious institution.

For those of you who are Believers and think that I am flushing society down the crapper by thinking gay marriage should be allowed, a few things:

1. Gay marriage will be legalized.  Get used to it.

According to polls, 70% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 believe it should be legalized.  Its even higher among those in highschool.  Regardless of your beliefs in gay marriage, it will inevitably become legal throughout the entire country, probably within the next 10 years. 

2. The US is not a Christian nation, and therefore cannot be expected to advocate our beliefs.

In fact, its a popular and now well debunked myth that the US was ever a Christian nation to begin with.  The vast majority of our founding fathers were free masons and deists who held more fielty to the principles of the Enlightenment than they did the Bible (see Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin).  Though it is accurate to say that the Enlightenment ideals are heavily influenced by Christian thought, it is inaccurate to say our country was founded on Christian thinkers.  We are a nation founded not on Christian law, but on democracy, which allows for the people themselves to define what is law.  By living in a democracy, we knowingly allow the possibility of contrary opinions and therefore laws that are contrary to our beliefs.  This is not to say that Christians should not fight for their own opinions and for their rights in society, since this is the essence of democracy.  However, it is foolish to act like we have a sense of entitlement above other citizens because we hold the belief that the government should advocate our beliefs above someone else's.  The government is by the people; if the people change, so will the government.

3. The Christian life is one of persecution, not of domination.

One of my reasons for not supporting banning gay marriage is that those who want to make it illegal, whether you call them the religious right, GOP, or whatever, are clearly not fighting for Christian morality, but solely for political gain.  Lets face it, the GOP doesnt care about what we think is wrong or right.  What they do care about is that Christians make up a large majority of their voter base, and therefore will use gay marriage as their means of gaining political power.  The minute it becomes inconvenient to them and the tide of gay marriage support overwhelms them, they will dump it because it no longer benefits them.  That aside, Christ has never promised that we will be powerful and rule over society, in fact he promised the exact opposite!  Though the Jews desired domination of the Romans, Christ promises that they will be hated for believing in him and what followed his Resurrection was intense persecution.  Just because we have the blessing of living in a country where we do not experience persecution, lets not forget that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world.  Our laments of legalized gay marriage no doubt look sort of pitiful to those Christians in the East who are being jailed and killed because of Christ.  In summary, suck it up.

This sums up how I feel about gay marriage.  Questions?  Comments?

~Jared