This article places the whole issue of Prop. 8 and LGBT rights in perspective and in a nutshell!
"[An]interesting argument that is made by people who oppose the right to same-sex marriage is that not only is marriage somehow intrinsically and exclusively religious or cultural in nature, but that giving the right of matrimony to homosexuals would somehow be infringing upon the right of heterosexual, (presumably religious) people for whom marriage is sacred, and has a specific, limited meaning (union between a male and a female). Now, I could go on and on about the 'sacredness' of an institution that has a fifty-fifty success rate and fails miserably into divorce half the time, but it is not my purpose to demean something that is obviously significant to many others. However, to argue that somehow granting the right of same-sex matrimony to a homosexual individual (note: civil marriage, not religious marriage) would mar the sanctity of a third person’s marriage or beliefs, is again, absolutely absurd. What does someone’s legal right of marriage have anything to do with anyone else?"
The onerous actions of all too many professing Christian churches and clergy, and their blind and gullible followers, toward LGBT people, and the hateful messages and actions propounded by these "religious" homophobes in the public square, have done not only untold harm to LGBT people and their families, but have irrevocably sullied the reputations of both Christianity and of Christians who seek to live out the Gospel of grace, faith, love, peace, reconciliation, and inclusiveness!
LGBT people and those who are Christians in fact have a great deal in common! Both groups, though for different reasons, are vilified by many people. The haters vilify LGBT people; all too many intelligent, decent, and sensitive people vilify Christians!
Most churches have been in the vanguard of vilifying LGBT people and, as such, have shown themselves to be nothing more than mere bureaucratic entities who seek to reinforce their moral hegemony which they don't deserve; their credibility which they don't deserve; their standing as representatives of Jesus and the Gospel which they don't deserve!
No Christian, a follower of Jesus, seeks to discriminate against any of God's children; seeks to write discrimination against others into a civil (or even religious) Constitution; seeks to deprive any of God's children of full and equal civil rights; spreads lies and distortions against others so as to inflame the public against any of God's children; spews hateful rhetoric from assorted venues, including the pulpit, against any of God's children!
And it's a crying shame that it's these ignorant haters who clothe themselves in the trappings of "religion," those who propound the false gospel of legalism and perfectionism, those who obsess over what I call "Genital Theology," monopolize the media and have the gall to say that they represent Christians and Christianity!
Is it any wonder that all too many intelligent, decent, and sensitive people resent this perversion of Christianity? And it must be loudly and frequently proclaimed that Christians who are Christians in fact also terribly resent this perversion of Christianity!
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