A lovely and sad sermon by Rev. Emily Gage at Unity temple today about same-sex marriage. Aside from her emotional appeal and the appeal to dignity (lack of equal rights does not affirm the worth and dignity of all people), I enjoyed the snarky comments about Bible-thumping homophobes. Here’s my rough transcription of her comments:
Those who base their opinions on scripture perform a particularly bad kind of Selective Biblical Literacy. For the Bible that condemns homosexuality also gives a married man the right to take concubines and says a woman who isn’t a virgin when she’s married should be put to death.
I was reminded of a recent call to religious Maine-ians I saw on Blag Hag via BoingBoing:
I know the Bible can be a little hard to understand, so let me spell it out for you: God hates shellfish. You know what’s a shellfish? Lobster. Because of this, I fully expect a ban on Maine’s lobster industry ASAP. I know that’s a major facet of your economy and all, but you’ve illustrated that God’s word is more important than the well being of your citizens. I’m sure they’ll understand the dip in the economy, since getting into heaven later is more important than this life.
So, get cracking on that next referendum. I mean, you don’t want to be hypocrites, do you?
Rev. Gage pointed out two essential facts to consider: 1) Civil Rights are rarely (or never) won in the voting booth. The majority will rarely vote for the minority’s rights. 2) Surveys show that tolerance for social change rises after it’s been enacted. In other words, the states where same-sex marriage is legal now show rising tolerance for the policy.
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Interesting post–reminds me of the musical Prop 8 that was going around the web a few months ago. So, would you say the legistlature needs to enact the social policy without votes and then seek out support once it’s been enacted?
Yep. It’s the duty of the legislature and the courts to defend the rights of all citizens, or rectify problems where those rights have been threatened.
LBJ commented that the “Democrats just lost the south for a generation” when they passed the Civil Rights Act, but few today dispute that it was the right thing to do.
Interesting. I think this would be a good way to go–I’d certainly support it.
“…the states where same-sex marriage is legal now show rising tolerance for the policy.”
This has certainly been the case in Iowa, although you still have many loudly speaking out against it. Fortunately, the process for overturning the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision is long and drawn out. My feeling is that if it ever does come to a vote, many Iowans will be very “why bother?” and not vote to take away someone’s rights, even if they don’t fully support marriage equality.
It is when the conversation turns to marriage equality that I am proud to be UU.
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