The Bible says homosexuality is wrong so…
The Bible, unfortunately, has been used to justify fear and
hatred for centuries. I’m pretty sure
that God’s message, at least to me as I have read the Bible, was for love and
compassion, not to pass judgment, but let’s take this argument one step at a
time. All of my biblical references come
from BibleGateway.com, the New International Version.
First, you can find support in the Bible for many things
that our society now has determined is illegal, based on violations of human
rights. The Bible says that people
should be put to death for committing adultery (that’s cheating on your husband
or wife just in case you didn’t know) (Lev. 20:10). Societies used to do that, even ours, but
then we decided that it was a violation of human rights because too many people
were doing it and they probably shouldn’t be put to death. Some extremist
faith groups still believe in this practice and still stone women to death for
committing adultery, but we as a nation fight against it because it is a human
rights violation.
The Bible was also used to justify slavery in the 18th
and 19th century, much in the same way it is being used now, because
many people in the Bible owned slaves.
Genesis 9:25 states “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his
brothers.” This passage was a common
justification for slavery because “scientists” (who are now thought of as
quacks and not real scientists) traced the ancestry of slaves back to this
point. Now (thankfully) slavery is illegal
because it is a human rights violation.
Thousands of women were put to death as
“witches” for doing any number of things that men in power felt were wrong in
those days, including (but not limited to) practicing midwifery, using herbal
remedies, cheating on their husbands, speaking out against authorities (see
Witches, Midwives and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenrich). Unfortunately we are still working on
midwifery becoming legal again in most states, but it is getting there because
we are realizing that women have a right to choose their own birth experience.
Religious groups (and society in
general) used to think that mixed-race couples were wrong (illegal until 1967,
see Loving v. Virginia), but it isn’t
illegal any more to marry someone of a different race. They used many of the same arguments that are
being used today against same-sex couples.
But the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, decided that the
anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional.
Ryan informs me that the trial judge, whose decision was being over
turned in Loving, justified not
letting couples of different races get married because ‘God put the different
races on different continents, if he wanted them to mingle he wouldn’t have
done that’.
Catholicism still says contraception is
wrong and it was illegal to use in Connecticut until 1965 (see Griswold vs.
Connecticut, 1965), but now it is legal because the Supreme Court has decided
that people have a “right to marital privacy.”
As stated in my post yesterday, the
Bible also says that many things are wrong that people still do and are not
considered illegal. Just look at the Ten
Commandments Exodus 20), the only two commandments that are illegal (with very
good reason) are “Thou shall not murder” and “Thou shall not steal.” All of the others are perfectly legal, even
though many do not agree with them: adultery, saying the lord’s name in vain,
honoring your parents (could you believe being put in jail if you did or didn’t
do something your parents told you?!), false testimony (technically this is at
least partially illegal because it includes perjury, but just lying isn’t
illegal), coveting, remembering the Sabbath?
I think just about everyone I know has broken at least one or two of
these at some point in their lives.
The Bible has a bunch of rules on
eating:
Genesis 32:32 - Therefore to this day
the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the
socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the
tendon.
Leviticus 7:23 Do not eat
any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats.
11:4 There are some that only chew the cud
or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them. The
camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it
is ceremonially unclean for you.
19:26 Do not eat any
meat with the blood still in it.
Deuteronomy 14:8 The pig is also
unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the
cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.
14:10
But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not
eat; for you it is unclean. (That means no shellfish, calamari, octopus,
etc.)
14:19
All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them.
The list goes on and on and on. I don’t know about you, but I like fat on my
steak, rabbit is pretty good, shellfish? Yum, and I LOVE pork, and
interestingly enough eating pork has actually become part of Christian
identity, part of what defines us as different from Jews or Muslims. Why have we as a society decided it is okay
to do these things, why is it okay to eat “unclean” foods, we don’t judge our
politicians when they cheat on their dying wives (John McCain almost got
elected president), but we cling to this concept of marriage so that we feel
like our country isn’t completely falling apart.
I DO believe that our country is falling apart because we
are losing sight of the original values and beliefs of our country. What would Jesus or our founding fathers say
if he were here and saw the number of impoverished children in our country (15%
of people live below the poverty line (>$26,023/year/family of 5) 36% of
that population is children) (National Poverty Center, http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty/). What would he say if he saw the Bible being
used to support intolerance, fear and hatred?
What would he say if he heard my friend so many years ago say “it isn’t
my job to care about their (her family’s) health care or well-being” when asked
about her opinions on universal health care?
What would he say about the state of our education system, or our
atrocious infant and maternal mortality rates?
In the Bible there are 686 verses that use the word Love,
only 127 even mention the word hate and most of those talk about “not hating.”
249 verses talk about Peace. Where are
those thoughts and values in our society?
If we are allowed to pick and choose what we believe about and from the
Bible, I choose to believe that the Bible promotes love and peace. The Bible also says “Do
not judge, or you too will be judged.2 For in the same way you
judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be
measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2).
This means that while someone may not
agree with homosexuality, it is not that person’s place to use government to impose
his or her religious beliefs on other people.
I seem to remember a couple of years ago the far right (including Fox
News) taking up arms because they were afraid that Muslim extremists were going
to impose “Sharia Law” on all of us and make us do things we didn’t want to do
(like cover our heads). How come this is
wrong, but imposing Christian beliefs through our government on homosexuals is
not? Isn’t imposing Christian beliefs of
marriage on those who want to be in a “non-traditional” marriage relationship
the exact same thing?
In the Canadian court decision that
made same-sex marriages legal in Canada, the lawyers Martha
A. McCarthy and Joanna L. Radbord argued that a constitutional amendment
defining marriage as between a man and a woman is state sponsored
discrimination. As long as there is a
distinction between who can and cannot get married, the state is saying that it
is okay to discriminate against this group of people (you can read the entire
court opinion here http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/decisions/2003/june/halpernC39172.htm). Discrimination on any level by any one is not
okay, and against the principles of love, peace and kindness that flow through
the Bible.
In kind a Massachusetts court found
that “The denial of marriage licenses to same-sex couples violated provisions
of the state constitution guaranteeing individual liberty and equality, and was
not rationally related to a legitimate state interest. Superior Court of
Massachusetts at Suffolk vacated and remanded.”
As Justice Margaret Martial stated in the majority opinion “’The right
to marry is not a privilege conferred by the State, but a fundamental right
that is protected against unwarranted State interference.’" The Court held
that the State does not have a rational
basis for denying same-sex couples marriage on the grounds of due process
and equal protection.
Voting “yes” to any constitutional
amendment supporting the “traditional” definition is saying that it is okay to
discriminate. Haven’t we come further
than this as a society?
I know one thing for sure, if my
daughter came to me in 10 or 15 years and told me she was gay, I would not stop
loving her, I would not stop supporting her, I would not tell her she can’t be
with the person she loves, I would not tell her she can’t visit her partner in
the hospital or that she can’t leave her estate to her partner without huge tax
penalties, or list her on her health insurance.
Regardless of whether I agree with how she is living her life or not,
she still has the right to those things and she still deserves to have my love
and support, not my judgment and condescension.
And I know my husband feels the exact same way.
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