9/30/08

Marriage, Christian engagement and the public sphere...

Its that time again, the leaves are turning, the weather is cooling and your obligation is just around the corner. Yup your civic obligation to vote is only a few short weeks away!

As a citizen of the foggy part of CA I'm being bombarded with ads for and against Proposition 8, the Gay Marriage Ban. As an avowed thoughtful evangelical who's spent some time in the academic faith experience, i am getting grilled by my friends on this one. I find myself at a loss for how to respond. It should be easy, yeah or nay! Right?

Yet one look at the google results is enough to scare me from even wanting to enter into the discussion! The rhetoric and the heat! *shudder*

But what also makes this hard for me to talk about is that for its not an issue of saving marriage, but instead an issue of christian dialogue in the public sphere. In France one is married twice, legally and then in the church of their choosing. What makes it dicey is that there is no clear direction in the bible as to what Christians should legislate and why. There are nebulous passages about giving back to Caesar what is his and obeying the laws of the land, but nothing about what laws we should draft and approve.

So I find myself asking,"does this legislation really matter?" Cant marriage be both a legal and a religious ceremony? Should Christians try to legislate out morals on an unbelieving public? I'm not so sure, but I'm willing to at least ponder and engage thoughtfully on this, and when possible engage in thoughtful dialogue, not just game winning.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You write very well.