Making a very conservative case for marriage equality
By Mark Worth
Recently, more than 120 religious leaders from across the state issued a statement urging Mainers to end marriage discrimination against same-sex couples.
Why would clergy like myself support equal marriage? Because it is good, right and fair. I believe in the value of marriage. Good marriages benefit the entire community. The legal institution of marriage promotes family stability and cohesiveness. Marriage promotes financial security, long-term commitment and faithfulness. I believe these are good things. They are good for straight families and they are good for gay families.
And so this is a very conservative case for marriage equality. Marriage promotes family values that should be available to all families, not just straight families.
These are our family values: in our family everyone is valued.
According to the Nov. 19 BDN, Bishop Richard Malone, Maine’s Catholic bishop and an opponent of marriage equality, declared that "the ability and obligation to procreate" is an essential part of marriage, and without this component marriage is "meaningless." I strongly disagree with the good bishop. My wife and I have been married for 29 years. Our marriage has produced no children, and we are now beyond our child-bearing years. Yet our marriage is not meaningless, despite the bishop’s insensitive words. My marriage and my relationship with my wife are the most meaningful part of my life. And hundreds of other childless couples in Maine have meaningful marriages, too.
There are those who say we should not redefine marriage. But we have redefined marriage before, and I say thank God we have done so!
According to the Bible, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. That was a traditional marriage, but we don’t do that anymore. Not so long ago it was legal for a man to beat his wife. That was traditional marriage, too.
As recently as 1967 there were 16 states in which it was illegal for a black person to marry a white person. Yes, the marriage of the parents of the president-elect of the United States was illegal in 16 states.
My older brother, who died recently, was in an interracial marriage, and they had two wonderful children who are now adults. Yet their marriage would have been illegal if we had not redefined marriage.
Moreover, before the American Civil War, marriages between slaves were not recognized under the laws of the United States. That allowed the slave-owner to sell the husband to one person, sell the wife to another and sell the children to someone else. We did not recognize slave marriages because we did not value the people we enslaved.
Thank God we have redefined marriage!
There will be some who say the Bible condemns homosexuality. There are 35,526 verses in the Bible. By my count only eight are about homosexuality, making this one of the very smallest issues in the Bible. So if you are prejudiced against lesbians and gays and go looking for Bible verses that, when taken out of context, con-firm your prejudice, you will be able to find a few.
But according to the biblical record, Jesus himself never criticized homosexuals. He did, however, criticize self-righteous religious people who judged and condemned others. He said, “Judge not, so you will not be judged.” He said, “He that is without sin should cast the first stone.” And he said, “Remove the log from your own eye before you try to remove the speck from your neighbor’s eye.”
My faith teaches me to love my neighbor and to treat others the way I wish to be treated. Under current Maine law, gay and lesbian residents are not treated as I am treated, because I have the right to marry and they don’t. My marriage brings great meaning and joy to my life, and I believe that others should have the same benefits available to them.
The Rev. Mark Worth is minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Castine. He lives in Penobscot.
On 11/26/08 at 1:30 AM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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Very well put, Reverend.
Let us not forget that King David ordered the killing of Bathsheba's military husband so that he could marry her.
They were the parents of King Solomon.
On the other hand Jezebel used her womanly charms on another man in order to steal his ancestral vineyards from him to give to her husband.
Then there's Esther and her arranged sexual and drinking orgy for her husband and a neighboring king.
You know something?
I'm really glad that I never married!
On 11/26/08 at 1:31 AM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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11/26/08 at 01:30 AM, Mainelyme wrote:
Very well put, Reverend.
Let us not forget that King David ordered the killing of Bathsheba's military husband so that he could marry her.
They were the parents of King Solomon.
On the other hand Jezebel used her womanly charms on another man in order to steal his ancestral vineyards from him to give to her husband.
Then there's Esther and her arranged sexual and drinking orgy for her husband and a neighboring king.
You know something?
I'm really glad that I never married!
Perley J. Thibodeau
Mainelyme
On 11/26/08 at 1:37 PM,
JoeCentral wrote:
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I hope the BDN is fair enough to publish the opposing opinion with as much fanfare as they post this one. I'm sure people will be sending them in like crazy. Personally, I wonder what percentage 120 "religious leaders" are of the entire ministerial populace in Maine. I don't begrudge the Unitarian Rev. his opinion. I love free speech, and in my search for truth I know that free speech is all important, but as I look at the verses discussing marriage it's always about man and woman, Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. I know some folks get mad when someone reaches for a book they've been told is irrelevant, so I apologize to you who get offended ahead of time, my comment is intended for the author. I want to show the same kind of love and kindness to my fellow man as this fellow says he's doing, but this is my State, and my country to express opinions in too.
So to ..."The Reverend," I start early in the book. Genesis 1:22, Genesis 1:21-23, Genesis 1:27-29, Genesis 3:16 - two of which discuss increasing in number, and I wonder how if marriage is intended to increase the population then why would he promote a same sex union where that is impossible. I don't begrudge anyone for their relationships or where they feel they find love. I love my dog too, but I don't want to marry it, and if I lose my marbles I don't want you to allow me to change the laws of the world, or the entire nation, because I'm a little of my minority rocker, but I do hesitate to move the ancient boundary markers (Proverbs 22:28) defining marriage as between members of the opposite sex. You may also be interested in checking out http://www.demographicwinter.com - commentary on that piece makes Al Gore's movie on Global Warming not seem quite so scary as the current demographic reality of the Western World. I think everyone would be interested in seeing that film, gay, lesbian, dog lover, hetero, or purple.
On 11/26/08 at 4:13 PM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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JoeCentral:
Can anyone of you people who hide behind the Bible come right out and say that you are afraid of your own inner most homosexual leanings and that's why you cling to all of these time worn verses from a book that shouldn't call itself the word of God while enslaving the already tortured minds of those who seek companionship in its pages?
After all, God didn't write the old and new testiment with his own hand.
It was enscribed by men who also feared their own homosexuality and wanted to show others that they were the ones who were right, while just plain God fearing people were the ones who were wrong.
On 11/26/08 at 4:46 PM,
JoeCentral wrote:
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I'm very comfortable in my own skin thank you.
On 11/26/08 at 6:58 PM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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JoeCentral:
Then why can't you let others be comfortable in theirs?
On 11/29/08 at 12:08 PM,
JoeCentral wrote:
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I can and I do Mainelyme, the rest is up to you find you own personal peace in a crazy world. I just think whining to get the whole world to change on this marriage issue is barking up the wrong tree, and I fear at some point even you won't like the results. I'm not saying the institution as it's evolved is a good one. It has a lot of flaws as it's practiced, especially in this nation, but a change beyond a civil union just seems to get even the most neutral people into a tizzy. I think changing the rules this far into the game is going to bring bad repercussions for everyone involved, especially because doing so goes against constitutional checks and balances, just look at the referendum in CA, and the one that averted in MA. The people have to be stepped on in order for your desires to come to pass, and that just doesn't seem like freedom, democracy, or a Republic like the United States to me.
On 11/30/08 at 11:00 PM,
Mainelyme wrote:
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JoeCentral:
The trouble with a discussion of this type is the fact that posters are jumping a hurdle between marriage and civil unions.
The last I heard organized religion isn't doing very well in and of itself.
Same sex couples aren't storming the vestibules of churches demanding to have their relationships recognized in any formal religion.
Same sex couples just want the United States Government to legally recognize their committment to each other and grant them the same rights that they give opposite sex couples.
Organized religion has been changed so many times over the past two thousand odd years that Jesus Himself wouldn't see much similarity in what he taught, and what is being foistered onto people in His name today.
When all of these religious sects come to realize there's enough money in it, then they too will jump on the bandwagon and welcome all couples into their embrace.
And that includes the Roman Catholic Church.
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