June brainstorming

A string of thoughts for the last day of June. Disagreement is not hate. It is dangerous to smear whole groups of people with that kind of wording, not to mention hypocritical. On the other hand, speaking truth without love, I have heard it said, makes the truth repulsive. I am dismayed at the comments made by opponents of the recent same-sex marriage ruling, not because I am in favor of same-sex marriage, but because I think the dissenting arguments are foolish, and make the opposing side look ignorant. They’re using all the wrong points to make their points. We shouldn’t be arguing stupidly that homosexuals are terrible parents whose children are scarred for life, or that there have been no civilizations that allowed conjugal homosexuality. Homosexual people can make fine parents from a secular standpoint, and many of their children turn out fine in the world’s eyes. What we (Christians and others) don’t like about it is that those children grow up believing homosexuality to be acceptable, which in God’s eyes, it is not. We should just admit that. Also, there HAVE been societies of old (and new ones as well) which considered homosexual union to be acceptable. Saying otherwise is to make us look uneducated and racist, only conscious of Western civilizations.

Opponents should instead be arguing for State sovereignty, religious liberty, and a closer look at the Constitution- whether or not this should even be included. We should be defending against being called “haters,” when we simply have a different belief system. We should, as other journalists and bloggers have said, take the beam out of our own eye regarding marriage, and work on what’s broken there, before yapping about the speck of homosexual marriage.

We look like bigoted idiots. What are we really trying to accomplish? More and more first world countries have accepted same-sex marriage, and more and more Americans have been accepting of it as well. We (opponents) want future generations to not have this as their new reality, but it’s already the de facto experience of the hundreds of children already being raised by same-sex couples, married or not. The politicians against same-sex marriage act like that’s not happening, like there isn’t already a couple of generations of children who would want their same-sex parents to be married. Marriage itself hasn’t meant much anyway, since so many marriage laws have changed over the last century. What were we trying to protect? Who did we think we were fooling?

But mostly, I am dismayed that the Supreme Court even gets to decide this for us. Some friends and I agree that it should be left up to the States. Even if every State votes one by one in favor of it, at least then we’d know that it was truly the will of the people, and not a small group who don’t properly represent the people.

I am not writing this to be negative, or hopeless, but honest. We are fighting God’s fight, and to the world it doesn’t make sense. Opponents of the SCOTUS ruling need to analyze the country’s opinions on the subject, and about modern marriage as an institution. And read some gosh-darn history while they’re at it. We are just as hypocritical as those who are intolerant of our supposed intolerance. It is our responsibility, besides the issue itself, to call into question the fact the Court just mowed over the desires of about half the nation. Regardless of the subject matter, that’s not acceptable.

I am not a patriot; my allegiance is to God’s kingdom. I don’t really celebrate Independence Day, and I only vote when it seems to really be a big deal. I usually don’t get political. This issue, however, is alarming to me. I will remember St. Augustine’s words, quoted by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “An unjust law is no law at all.” I will expand that to include interpretations of the Constitution. If the nation wants to let gays marry, then by golly, that’s what is going to happen. But I have the feeling that the squeaky wheel got the grease here, and a whole bunch of people didn’t have the right words to defend themselves against it, scattered as they are by their own folly.

I have gay friends. Some of them know how I feel about gay marriage. Some don’t. That’s because some of them understand the difference between disagreement and hatred. I am not from under a rock. I completely understand the reasons why people are in favor of gay marriage. From a totally secular standpoint, why the heck not? The thing is, a huge number of people are not looking at it that way, but through the lens of their faith in God, to whom it is sinful. We know the truth about it- God’s truth, which is the ultimate reality. But His message called also for repentance and love, not condemnation.  We don’t have to agree with what we believe is sin; we can call it what it is, but it’s not our job to condemn someone for it, especially non-believers. I’ll say again, what we really are concerned about are the future generations of children growing up thinking that it is acceptable, and dealing with the struggle to maintain religious liberty in the face of it.