Even though I'm not a California resident, I was very interested in the outcome of Proposition 8, that restricted marriage to a man and a woman, thus denying marriage rights to gays and lesbians. It was passed by a rather narrow margin: 52 to 48. Passage of this discriminatory amendment to the state constitution was fueled by some unlikely proponents: those who have themselves been discriminated against.
First, the Mormon Church, which, in the past, was persecuted and discriminated against because of its own "deviant" polygamous marriages, spent millions of dollars in drumming up support for Prop 8.
Second, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which has long promoted religious liberty and the separation of church and state, became involved through its own religious liberty department in urging church members to vote for the proposition. Adventists, who fear that someday their right to worship on Saturday may be denied them, have, in the past, supported the ban on prayer in public schools and even the right of Native Americans to smoke peyote as part of their religious ceremonies. To turn completely around and promote this invasion of the belief of other Christians that gays and lesbians should have the right to marry, seems incomprehensible to me. They try to argue that gay marriage would somehow threaten their religious liberty, though no minister would be required to perform gay marriages. And they suggest that this does not involve religious liberty because of their suggested differentiation between the first four of the Ten Commandments, which define our duty to God, and the last six which define our duty to each other.
Finally, the largest group voting for Prop 8 was African Americans, a group that has known terrible oppression and discrimination for most of their history in the United States. Of course, it is because of their unbending Christianity that they voted so. Still, one might think that their past experience would give them a greater sympathy for homosexuals who are so marginalized today.
Perhaps the strangest thing of all is that so many Christians, followers of the Jesus with whom the outcast and marginalized found acceptance, are those who have been the source of so much hatred and vindictiveness against gays and lesbians.
Do the abused and persecuted often become abusers and persecuters? Looking back in history, I think of the Puritans who came to America to escape persecution and became persecuters of those in their midst who disagreed with them. Does being a victim create a blind spot, so that one does not notice when one is making others victims? I am thankful for the example of Martin Luther King, and for his wife Coretta, who has forcefully stated her solidarity with gays and lesbians in their struggle for civil rights. I have noticed with gratitude the efforts of many gays and lesbians to respond with "soul force" love to those who discriminate and spread hatred about them. I just pray that when they do finally gain their rightful place in society, they will not become, like so many other abused peoples, abusers of others.
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2 comments:
The largest group voting for Prop 8 were Whites.
Blacks make up 6% of the population in CA; and they don't vote in the numbers Whites do.
Secondly: In what world were you expecting Seventh-Day Adventists to support Prop 8?
Is there an SDA theological precedent for gay marriage?
Thirdly, in what world does Prop 8 not curb religious liberty? Californian law already forces Catholic charities to provide birth-control coverage in its health plans.
Only the willfully blind (or otherwise malicious) would deny that the train will come barreling down the tracks at churches who do not fall in line.
What about State funding for students at Loma Linda?
Not to mention activists in Canada and Sweden have shown an eagerness to use "speech control" laws to go after ministers who disagree on this matter. You had better believe activist in this country, denied these types of laws, will nevertheless go right up to where the U.S. Constitution allows them (or more accurately to where the current majority on the Supreme Court allows the other 4 judges to push English out into the hot DC sunshine) when going after pastors and churches.
I think people have fears--fears of what the side effects could be in relation to a church's freedom. I think the gay poplation needs to somehow address the church's fears. The Christian population often comes against the gay "agenda" using their own fears and twisting things out of proportion. The Gay groups need to think of ways of getting their freedoms which would stipulate in the laws themselves the rights of the churchs to not perform cermonies, etc. There has to be a way of passing laws and protecting church's rights.
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