Today's discussion: The (other) 28th Amendment (sorry, ERA).

Yes, I am talking about President Bush's "sorta-kinda" hint at an amendment "clarifying" that marriage is between a man and a woman only and no other arrangements should carry the status of "marriage", as defined above (clause 1 and 2, if you will).

There are of course many issues at hand, not the least of which is the Amendment Ten (states' rights) issue. Certainly there must be a problem if you are married (or "civilly unioned") in Vermont but fly to Houston and cease to be. And there's a problem if Texas has to do what Vermont says. Second, there is the issue of money. If a "partner" is a "spouse", then the partner is eligible for company health insurance, divorce settlements, advantages when filing your taxes, etc... There is also a sociological / religious issue concerning morality in culture as well as the continuation of the social structure we now know it. I'm sure there are many other issues as well, but I want to focus on an aspect of this debate that will certainly (and already has) come up.

The "Religious Right" (or the remnants of it, whatever way you want to look at it) will and are and have been involved in this issue. Now, I won't go so far as to say that I always oppose the Religious Right - just everytime so far.

Ok, the point is this: WHY do my fellow Christians believe that it would be a good idea to use the government to enforce values? WHERE have they been that this has worked? WHEN did Jesus ever say, "force people to convert through fear of punishment of the governing authority"?

Now listen, YES, government legislates morality. What a stupid institution government would be if it only legislated what was amoral! "We hereby legislate taxes to provide well-paved roads for this nation but we refuse to say or do anything about murder. Just use our nicely paved roads to chase down those you want to kill." That is simply dumb. Of course we legislate morality and should. The difficulty in this country is that we don't know WHO gets to define morality and this problem is absolutely protected by the Constitution.

What do I mean? Morality is religious term. Even if you're an atheist - that is a religious stance. Humans are religious no matter what because humans think and have opinions about God. The only possible exception would be agnostics because they have an opinion about not having an opinion, and that's a rabbit we won't chase. But the point here is that Freedom of Religion is protected. Yes, this country was founded on Judeo-Christian values, and it is those values that protect freedom of religion!

Potential mess? YES! This means that theoretically, on a "slippery slope", we could someday have to deal with a religion that believes in human sacrifice. And guess what? We'd really have to deal with it! We couldn't just sweep it under a rug! It's really not that hard to imagine...we already are dealing with assisted suicide. If we nationally legalize assisted suicide, how far is to go to a religion where people wish to be sacrificed for religious beliefs? Potential mess? Yes!! But it is absolutely protected by the Constitution and by Judeo-Christian values found in it!

How can I say that? I'll tell you how, and this is where the Religious Right is wrong. Fundamental to everything Jesus was about was his insistence that people change inside - in the heart. This is a man who said "Woe to you" (which is Old English for "you're up a creek") to the Pharasees because they were like people who wash the outsides of their cups, but leave the inside filthy. "Woe to you" cause you're like a grave - sculpted marble and beautiful flowers outside and inside - rotting flesh. Why do we want to create a society of Pharasees? Why would we want people to be forced under fear of punishment to act like Christians when they're not?

The thing is God created free will. We can give God the "middle finger" if we want. Not advisable, to be sure, but we can do it. It is not our right or duty or privilege to take away free will, and the moment we do, we become anti-God! We become the anti-christ!

Ok, here's the other side. Jesus was also not promoting a lazier-fare approach to immorality (such as human sacrifice) in society. He did not slip into the lazy-brain phenomenon of believing that it was simply "either/or". He wasn't saying, "if they want to offer themselves as human sacrifices, fine". He never said that! He had another plan.

He said, "You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world...".

The United States Constitution is amazing. Really. It has completely opened wide the doors and leveled the playing field for the Church to really be the Church like never before. Those who are not Christians can enter into conversations with those of us who are as humans! Not as groveling dogs or as hypocritical Pharasees! They don't have to be afraid!

Followers of Jesus,

It is fear that makes the soil rocky and love that makes the soil rich.

-Matthew 13

posted by Headless-in-GR @ 1/24/2004 08:42:00 AM