Coming to Grips with Same-Sex Marriage

Today’s Los Angeles Times has an article that examines how various religious denominations in California are discussing how to deal with the allowance of gay marriage in California after last week’s Court decision. The irony is that – assuming that one is not so delusional that they cannot separate secular CIVIL law from church law (I, know, it’s a big assumption in the case of the Christianists) – the religious denominations actually do not need to do anything. The California Supreme Court’s decision ONLY APPLIES TO CIVIL MARRIAGE. Each denomination is completely free to either allow or disallow same sex marriage under their CHURCH laws. Thus it only becomes an issue when the civil laws are conflated with the religious dogma of churches (Note: Pastor Waybright quoted below fails to graps this simple concept. He also confuses the Bible for God's word as opposed to fallible mankind's attempt to understand the unknowable.). One would think that the concept would not be that difficult, but then again, Christianist try to avoid serious thought process whenever possible. Here are some story highlights:

*

The 4-3 ruling, which held that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, has prompted conservative and liberal congregations alike to discuss whether gay and lesbian members will be allowed to wed in their churches, synagogues and temples.

*

Pastor Gregory L. Waybright struggled from the pulpit Sunday to reconcile the laws of God with the laws of man.Though he wanted his church "to be a welcoming and loving house," he told worshipers at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, the California Supreme Court's decision last week to legalize gay marriage in California "is a contradiction of what God's word says."

*

"These are the kinds of issues every religion has to grapple with," said James A. Donahue, president of the Graduate Theological Union, a Berkeley-based consortium of theological schools. "How do you factor in the role of contemporary human rights, civil rights, the data about homosexuality" with "core traditions and beliefs?"

*

The ruling "is a violation of God's law," Siddiqi, an authority on Islamic law, said in an interview. "I hope all people of faith -- Jews, Christians and Muslims -- speak up against this." At Lake Avenue, a large and diverse church that is part of the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, Waybright told worshipers that he did not want to be "self- righteous or condemn anyone." Still, he said, "it's my responsibility . . . to keep pointing you to God's way." The Bible, he noted, makes clear that marriage is between a man and a woman.

*

Schulweis has been a rabbi for more than half a century and has seen his religion evolve, he said, first allowing women into the full "ritual life of the community," then ordaining them as rabbis and cantors, and eventually embracing homosexuals. "It's one of the most exciting parts of seeing religion as not static and inflexible but as sensitive to different times and different information and different knowledge," Schulweis said."What in the world did people in the biblical time know about homosexuals?"