Part One: Wrestling with a backflush 2,000 years long.
In light of the recent Chick-Fil-A scandal, I have decided that it's time to 'come out' with my stance on gay marriage.
And coming out is exactly what it is; In any question of nationwide morals, the individual is always guilty by association. Let me explain where I'm coming from.
I was raised as a fundamental Baptist...meaning that I was raised in a religion which believes that most, if not all, of the Bible is literal and the Absolute Truth, end of story, no questions asked, the end. To question the Bible was to tread treacherous and heretical waters and usually made Mom worry for your soul and Dad jump down your throat. This wasn't intended to be detrimental or harsh, it was simply the way life was as long as we had known it. This is how my parents were raised, and their parents before them, and so on, et cetera, the end.
When the question of homosexuality came up, it was referred to our resident expert, the Lord Jesus Christ and his Holy Word.
The King James Version (the only version for a proper fundamental Baptist) referred to homosexuality as an 'abomination' (Leviticus 18:22, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is an abomination."), and that was the end of the line. Homosexuality was evil, and those people were going to hell. Do not associate with them, for 'you are known by the company you keep' (Psalm 1:1). Problem solved, right? No. Somewhere along the line, I decided that organized religion was not for me and that it was time to rethink my worldviews to better suit my new lifestyle. Yes, the best parts of that religion have stayed with me, but 'because the Bible says so' makes more enemies than friends, especially when you somehow forgot to memorize all the verses to back up your argument. In addition, growing up on a mountain in the middle of nowhere and having the social savvy of an alligator purse, I decided that there was a possibility that some of my worldly education had fallen by the wayside in the name of Jesus. I was ignorant. And ignorance isn't bliss...ignorance breeds hate. I'll explain: I hate aliens. I hate them because I fear them. I fear them because I do not understand them. And man will always fear what he does not understand, and inevitably hate that which he fears. A large part of the Christian community physically cannot understand how anyone could just decide not to follow the Bible. This is evil. Most Christians fear evil. All Christians hate it.
One of the things I decided to think long and hard about was gay marriage. I have several very wonderful, very gay friends, and there is absolutely no way that those people are evil. 'Hate the sin, not the sinner' is one of the Baptist church's favorite catchphrases, and one that I find increasingly aggravating. It's an enormous cop-out; a Biblical way to pat oneself on the back for following Jesus's law to love without compromising the Baptist Way Of Life.
Bullshit.
Baptists cannot physically separate the sin from the sinner, just like they cannot separate the sin from themselves. My parents--God bless them--try very hard to love everyone as Jesus loves them, but 'Love thy neighbor as thyself' (Mark 12:31) is like trying to dig the 2x4 out of your own eye (Matthew 7:3) before picking on somebody else's mascara specks...it's almost impossible. Thus, the sin becomes the sinner. 'I am my sin' has always been one of my favorite artistically emo phrases, and I think it works quite well here. However, since I left the Baptist church, I have had the presence of mind and the lack of guilt to properly look into what Jesus REALLY says about homosexuality: absolutely nothing. Nothing that was recorded, at least. Oh Gourd, this must be the end of the line. God must really hard homosexuality. I shouldn't even play with this.
Again, bullshit. As we all know, Jesus had some pivotal conversations with and caused some unprecedented changes for sluts, money-grubbers, system-feeders, and general assholes from all walks of life. He also took the time to call out the people who were 'doing it right' and take them down a notch or two, and to find the under-the-radar-flyers who were just trying to get by and help them out too. Jesus loved EVERYBODY, and that in itself is a miracle unachieved by any other human being--real or fictitious--in history.
If Jesus didn't judge, then who are you to try (Matthew 7: 1-5)? If Jesus didn't cast that first stone (John 8:7,"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."), then what do you think you're doing?
Part Two: Land of the Free, the Separation of Church and State, and my moral compass--at war.
My father served in the Navy. My grandfather was a Marine. My older brother served as Army Special Forces for two tours in the Middle East during the worst war we've ever had. My family has a long military heritage, so I don't take my rights lightly.
My first amendment right is guaranteed as follows:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
I think that's pretty badass. That means I can say what I want and nobody can do anything about it. This is true, to an extent. However, there are some things you just shouldn't say: for example, I don't consider the 'N-word' acceptable for use in everyday conversation. Not because I'm black, but because I'm human, and I don't think that it's a nice word to say. That doesn't mean that other people can't say it, but it does mean that I don't use it and that may cause physical harm to come to you if you employ it in the wrong company.
Chick-Fil-A time! Dan Cathy, the CEO of CFA recently had the nerve to give an honest answer to the question of the institution of marriage. All hell broke loose.
How dare this man?! This is hate! This is bigotry! This is...
...guaranteed by the First Amendment? You bet your sweet ass it is.
Dan Cathy did nothing wrong. He merely exercised his rights, just as the LGBT community does with its 'Get Over It' campaigns and Pride Parades. It's not hate speech, it's an answer to a question.
So, get over it.
Separation of church and state is defined as, 'the distance between organized religion and the nation state'. Thomas Jefferson said it best in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association: "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." The grey area here is that marriage is considered a 'governmental institution', (Wikipedia defines it as follows: Civil marriage is the legal concept of marriage as a governmental institution irrespective of religious affiliation, in accordance with marriage laws of the jurisdiction.") and that's why we have citizens of the homosexual orientation petitioning and fighting for the U.S. government to legalize gay marriage. The reason this isn't legal yet is because basically all of the people in the whole damn country need to call their representatives and request that they either vote for or vote against gay marriage. Unfortunately, a little thing called DOMA stands in the way.
The Defense of Marriage Act was voted into law on Sept. 21, 1996 and defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. Why? Because Bill Clinton and a bunch of other politicians said so. Someone explain to me how this is constitutional. Someone explain to me how the government can regulate marriage between two citizens of the United States. Because I am unable to find anything, anywhere, that makes any sense to me explaining why the government has their hands in this cookie jar. My pocket? I don't like it, but I get it. Marriage? To use the colloquialism, "Aw heeeeeyyyyullll nah!"
And here we are wearing our freedoms on our chest as if we're some kind of democracy or something. Tell me, how is it freedom to require the government to recognize a marriage between two people? And how is it freedom to tell two tax-paying, law-abiding citizens that they can't partake of one of their rights because they love a person of the wrong sex?
My moral compass says let the citizens of the United States; be they gay, straight, white, black, or of the Illustrious Italian descent, marry whomever they will. After all, if we're really the land of the free, shouldn't ALL of us be free?
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