I read this article the other day in the New York Times. (It is my homepage) The article, basically, states that a group of leaders from the Catholic and Orthodox Church are going to refuse to follow laws that require them to recognize same-sex unions or marriages. They are signing an official document, to be released soon, to that effect. They are saying, in effect, that if a country creates a law that they believe to be wrong they will not follow it.
It really outraged me! It made me so angry with leaders in the Church and with the theology that they must use. Here is the quote that made me the angriest:
“We argue that there is a hierarchy of issues,” said Charles Colson, a prominent evangelical who founded Prison Fellowship after serving time in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal. “A lot of the younger evangelicals say they’re all alike. We’re hoping to educate them that these (abortion, homosexuality, and religious freedom) are the three most important issues.”
I do agree there is a hierarchy of issues. I would include religious freedom, but I think that abortion and homosexuality are on the bottom of my list. I would put the things that Jesus talked about in the Gospels on the top of my list. The last time I checked Jesus did not mention either homosexuality or abortion. He talked about loving our neighbors. He talked about selling all that we have and giving the money to the poor. He talked about treating all people with dignity and respect. He talked about not creating a difference between the rich and the poor. Jesus talked about social justice.
As angry as I am about the issues they are targeting, I do agree with the basic premise. If a country makes a law that we believe to be morally wrong, we have the obligation to not follow it. We need to tell the government that they cannot do whatever they want. I pray, though, that the Holy Spirit is strong enough to overcome people like this. That if I pray for them and they are true believers that they will be able to see that their actions are bigoted and that they will be able to change. I can only pray.
The other thing that makes me angry about this article is that those of us who disagree with the more conservative Christians, and also identify as Christian, get a bad rap. I mean I am left defending these positions that I disagree with simply because I know that they are my brothers ad sisters in Christ. Therefore I cannot just write these people off as crazy nutters - but instead I must wrestle with their theology and them in order to learn how to pray for them. Once again, my only recourse is prayer.
On an unrelated note - that picture I took in Neuchatel, Switzerland. I decided my blog needed more photos.
I struggle with this as well. I want to respect religious freedom, but I also hope that everyone (regardless of religious affiliation) will recognize equal rights (voting rights, marriage rights, etc). I'm never sure where to draw the line. If something is morally wrong, I think a church does have a responsibility to stand up against it; it gets sticky in cases like these where (in my opinion) some churches are using "morality" to justify discrimination. Tricky indeed.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and picture. :)