Bastique

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October 26, 2008

The truth in the lies of California's Proposition 8

I get increasingly horrified by the frighteningly bizarre beliefs of some of the conservative Christian proponents of Proposition 8. This goes beyond anger, when I realize that there is a deep-seated belief in some people that what should be considered the advancement of humanity in the realization that all of God's children are equal is being considered a sign of the apocalypse.

Franciscans for Same-sex Marriage,
by Alex Handy from Oakland California,
available under the CC-by-sa 2.0licenseI was reading an article where one couple (the wife identified as Sara Havranek), who has to watch every penny because the wife isn't working and has to raise their five children, has donated $1,100 to support Proposition 8. Any Christian who has studied His teachings knows that Jesus Christ would tell Sara to feed their children or give it to feed the poor or help illness, and not use it to put forward such a vile, evil amendment.

But what really gets me is that there are people like Lou Engle who is holding prayer rallies and instructing his followers to pray and fast for up to 40 days before the election for the proposition to pass. I quote:

"We believe there is a spiritual battle in an unseen realm, and that's why I've called for united prayer for divine intervention," Mr. Engle said. "It's a defining moment for the definition of marriage in American history."

So what about the masses of people who spend time praying for the proposition to fail? Do these people think He will shine His divine light and cause the undecided among us to vote one way or another because more people pray for it? Do they really think that God doesn't see what's going on; or do they really think he doesn't care unless they make it a point to suffer for Him?

I'm going to take a few minutes to debunking the great untruths that have come up in the pro-Proposition 8 side. Maybe you've already heard some of these, so bear with me.

1. Children will or won't be be taught about same-sex marriage whether or not Proposition 8 passes. Strangely enough, there's nothing in Proposition 8 about education. And there's nothing in California's educational curricula about marriage at all. If a school program is going to teach children about same-sex marriage, it's going to happen whether same-sex marriage is legal in California or not.
2. Churches will not lose their tax exempt status if they don't provide same-sex ceremonies Churches and ministers are entitled to bless or reject any service they damn well want. I cannot take communion in a Catholic Church because I wasn't baptized Catholic. A Christian minister can refuse to marry a Christian to a Jewish person or an Athiest, if he so chooses, and nobody can file against him. Furthermore, there are ample Christian ministers who will perform the rites that there is no reason why anyone would even want to be married in a church that would willingly refuse them.
3. The Church does not have a vested interest in legal definition of marriage. This seems to be the hardest one to get through people's heads, but it is a simple fact. People have confused tradition to be religious scripture. There's nothing in the Revelations of John about same-sex marriage; and there's very little in the new testament discussion it. What is at issue is that people fear that their long-held views about the so-called sin of homosexuality in general are being thwarted left and right. But the person who bases his/her entire faith on declaring what God hates based on some flimsy, at best, passages from the bible without even consulting what Jesus Christ spoke about, has no credible faith to begin with. There's far more in the Good Book about the sin of divorce than about "a man who lyeth with a man", but you don't see people going out and passing resolutions declaring divorce (which is inherently the greatest enemy of marriage) against the Constitution.

I read articles about people who spend their life savings donating to this hateful campaign, and people who demand periods of prayer and fasting and it motivates me to write, but whether the Proposition passes or fails won't have anything to do with God's will; but the campaign continues to demonstrate that evil can be done in the name of God, even by people who think they're doing good.

Posted by Bastique at October 26, 2008 8:13 PM

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Posted by: David Gerard at October 27, 2008 5:29 AM

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