July 2, 2015
By His Grace, and to the Glory of God
I’ve been meditating on the final decision of the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage. I think there are a lot of opinions flying around regarding the impact on religion. Naturally, as a spiritual man, I feel compelled to weigh in on the matter. I am very proud to be an American. I am overjoyed that I live in a country that was founded on principles of freedom and liberty, and that our constitution guarantees and protects those principles.
There are also a lot of opinions regarding how legalization of same-sex marriages will impact religions in this country and the world. It would be ignorant to say that “holy matrimony” being re-defined as any two people versus one man and one woman, would not have an impact. I don’t doubt that there are many who feel that God would never condone two men or two women being married in his name, or in his eyes. I respect the difficult position that this places orthodox religions in. However, as a more secular and liberal man, I don’t think any of us is qualified to say what God would or would not condone. We have our scriptures. We have our canonical laws. We have people who are experts in the field of religious study. What we do not have, though, is a definitive statement from the Almighty saying what He (or She, for that matter) considers as an acceptable representation of love.
In my humble opinion, love is the greatest gift that has been bestowed on the earth. I believe that love between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and a man is a sacred expression of God’s love. I cannot support this theory with facts, but then again, if we get down to the nitty gritty, the Bible and all the Holy Scriptures were written by men. We take them on faith, but men are highly fallible creatures, and ancient texts are subject to translation, re-translation, redaction and most importantly bias. That is fact.
I read in the news today that a woman in Mississippi resigned her elected position rather than give out marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This caused an uproar on social media, as you might imagine. Everyone is either praising her or crucifying her. If you’ve read this far, then here’s my outlook:
This country was formed because the pilgrims wanted a place where they could be free of the King’s rule, and be free to worship according to the dictates of their own consciences. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right in the United States. However, when religion is taken to an extreme, and becomes oppressive to society, or part of it, then people who practice that oppression are no better than those that fled England and formed THIS country. It is easy to stand behind scripture and dogma and spout the true will of God, but I urge you to think before you speak. Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek...Blessed are the merciful...Blessed are the peacemakers…” (Sermon on the Mount Matthew 5-7) In Corinthians 13 it is said, “...For now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is love.”
I cannot say for sure what the will of God is. I can for sure say what I think He wishes for the world which was created by divine will or intersession. Love is love. It is patient, kind, and blameless. It is stronger than hatred, and more enduring than ignorance. I hope when I come to my time of dying that I will have been lucky enough to feel it, share it and receive it from another...whomever he may be.
So I believe...
