As with the rest of us, religious people are often proven wrong by history. The Hebrew Bible didn’t condemn slavery. For centuries, the Catholic Church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe. In more recent times, large portions of the American Body of Christ believed races should keep separate.
I’m thinking about all this because around town the past couple of weeks, groups of families have gathered at major intersections with “Yes on Proposition 8″ picket signs. The California initiative will ban the now legal gay marraiges. I’m told that the organizers are Mormon and conservative Christian churches.
It’s hard for some to see it now, but as time goes by, this battle to allow gays to marry will be seen as a major civil rights movement. And history will judge the “Yes on Proposition 8″ people as being on the wrong side of the issue.
By the way, it always amazes me how much energy Christians spend on sex-related issues, which weren’t among the major themes of Jesus’ message. It also a little pathetic that Mormons have taken the lead in supporting Proposition 8. This is the same faith that waited until 1978 to proclaim that African Americans members were not inferior to white Mormons — only 125 years after the Emancipation Proclamation and 13 years after the Civil Rights Act.
Humility and a sense of history — something everyone, including Christians, should embrace.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Brian // Nov 2, 2008 at 4:17 am
You love generalities don’t you.
Give me a call anytime to discuss the premise of the last 5 paragraphs.
2 Fifty-One-Fifty // Nov 2, 2008 at 7:55 am
Funny, just minutes before I sat down to read this post, I was driving by an intersection with plenty of “Vote No on Prop 8″-ers, and I was thinking about one of the signs, which said, “Prop 8 = Free Speech.” Maybe I need that explained to me.
3 Jenny // Nov 2, 2008 at 11:06 am
Here’s my seldom-kept-to-myself opinion:
Churches should be free to ban same sex marriages. They can hold whatever traditions or rituals that they (we – I am a Christian) want.
Civil unions, on the other hand should be legal, and gay married folks should receive the same CIVIL rights (and even tax penalties! — grrrr – ‘nother topic) as all married people in our great country.
Whether or not your spouse is the opposite sex should not matter civilly.
4 sue l. // Nov 2, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Thanks, Bill for this thoughtful commentary.
5 Alexander // Nov 9, 2008 at 12:27 am
“weren’t among the major themes of Jesus’ message”?
Try one of God’s major themes…i.e., see Sodom and Gomorah, Adam and Eve, and Galatians 5:16-26, and so on.
Sorry, to do some “bible-thumpin’”…but I know we are among a tolerant lot!
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