Hi All, I read an article from Time this morning that somewhat disturbed me. It was written by Howard Chua-Eoan who implied that although we were granted the right to marry in NY, we will never be truly equal until all church groups recognize us and allow us to marry under the Church's spiritual covering. I could not agree with someone less. In fact, I think his attitude about religion is somewhat dangerous.
What I mean is that I do not need a church to legitimize me as a human or as a Christian. I also have no desire to make other people believe as I do. I simply want to be allowed to be who I am wherever I am and to have the same rights as anyone else.
While I understand that there are and will always be tugging in the hearts of men and women who want to marry to have the marriage pronounced within the safe and loving arms of an affirming congregation. I also believe in the rights of the individual or group to believe as they want to. I do not want to make the Church of Rome gay, I do not want to make the Baptist gay or the Nazarenes, or the Church of God or the Jews, the list goes on and on. I simply want the right to live my life as I choose.
Further, I believe that we are fortunate to live in a society where there are several alternate choices for the gay person who has a spiritual inclination. We have denominations that openly affirm and accept glbt persons, we have groups like the MCC that make service to the gay community their primary ministry, there are new denominations like the ECC (Ecumenical Catholic Church) that are emerging to rebuild the church in they way God intended it to be. All of these options allow us to follow our faith as we see fit without giving up our beliefs or traditions. And while these groups are not available on every street corner yet, I am comforted to know that I am recognized fully as an equal human by them.
As far as I am concerned, let the bigots be bigots. As long as I am legally and fully recognized I don't care what they think. And further, I don't want to be like them by trying to force them to accept my community in the same way that they try to force me to be straight. I am perfectly happy to live next door to them and show them that gays and lesbians are not a side show, we are people who mow our lawns, take out the garbage and come home from work every night hoping to enjoy a little time out on the lawn with friends and family.
In the Bible book of Romans (chapter 12) there is a scripture that says to treat your enemies well and by doing so you will be heaping coals of fire on them. The intent of this scripture is to remind us that if we treat those who are brazen and ugly to us well, we stand out as decent human beings and cast light on their ugliness. So instead of demanding they allow us to be equal in their congregations, I would rather live well in my community and treat them well. The ugliness that they wear will be forced into the light and good people will see the error that church groups of that kind live with.
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