Simply Because I Oppose Gay Marriage Doesn't Mean That I Am A Hater

The massive, galloping elephant in the room in the halls of power in Washington is the question about the sexual orientation of our new nominee for the Supreme Court, Elena Kagan. Some gay advocates were up in arms yesterday because the Wall Street Journal published an old picture of the nominee playing baseball. Somehow this was construed to mean that Miss Kagan was gay; this blogger cannot confirm if this is so, but I will address an issue of a similar vein.

[caption id="attachment_511" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="A Traditional Western Wedding"][/caption]

First, I must relay a story of mine. Years ago, I worked in a Brooklyn hospital as a security guard. This was the nineties when the crack epidemic and shootings were the norm in Brooklyn’s East New York. Security at the hospital would get into countless fights with the bangers and dealers; among the security, was an officer that was openly gay. But down to a man, those of us who were not gay would have died for him during many of our altercations with the dealers, and he too would have done the same for us. Now, that officer knew that if he came and asked me my take on gay marriage, although then such an issue wasn’t in vogue, I would have been honest in telling my colleague that my faith and my interpretation of the relevant Bible passages addressing that issue precluded me from such support for gay marriage-does that mean I am a hater....

Today, it is almost common to hear many people, especially those in Hollywood, say that if you opposed gay marriage…that you are indeed a hater, which implicates many of us who believe in traditional Christian values. Believe it or not, to many Christians, these beliefs are not made up out of whole cloth; they are tenets that are written down in the Bible and no stretch of interpretation can relegate those particular passages on this issue to be opened to evolving mores.

Traditional Christians practice their faith and adhere to certain interpretation of the Bible because they believe that there are literal consequences for behaving contrary. You may think that such matters concerning eschatology are utter nonsense, but bear in mind, to the Christian, it is not based on Socratic logic, but illogical faith. It is not that many of the tenets in the Bible are not being breached by Christians, but those who do are compelled to ask for forgiveness. We do not think that we are better than our homosexuals brothers, but it is a situation where we give God precedence in such matters…meaning that if our God says something is wrong…then it is so. Case in point, many a traditional Christian who came to the faith have had sex, even homosexual sex, outside of marriage (Fornication), and, it no doubt felt good to the flesh, but the tenets of our faith say it was and it is wrong. These Christian had to pray for those indiscretions-does that mean that they do not fall off the wagon? Of course not, but I hope you get the gist.

There are many traditional Christian preachers who are worried that even preaching against gay marriages from the pulpit would relegate such homilies to hate speech. This is coming to be so in Canada and England. The question that begs itself is what of the other tenets in the Bible, which proscribed murder; fornication; adultery; bearing false witness; theft;…and covetousness. So if a preacher were to preach against those behaviors in any of his sermons, would those who are thieves; President Clinton; Monica Lewinski; OJ Simpson; Scooter Libby;…and Sandra Bullock’s husband…have a case against the preacher for hate speech? I can see in my vistas that many of us will run afoul of such laws when they reach these shores, and, as certain as I am that there is a God-I am just as certain that laws precluding homilies against gay marriage are coming.