On Friday the SCOTUS, in a 5-4 decision, made same-sex marriage the law of the land expanding the right beyond the 36 states in which it was already legal (link). We should not be surprised. When a nation, governed as “we the people”, is comprised of a such a diverse group of people, not all of which are Christians, why should we expect it to adopt laws that model Christian ethics? Continue reading
There is a famous scene from the drama The West Wing in which President Bartlett rips into Dr. Jenna Jacobs, a conservative talk show host. The dialogue is based on an actual letter that was originally addressed to Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
At a press conference, the President accuses Dr. Jacobs (and by proxy all Christians) of cherry picking the Scriptures they accept and being inconsistent in how they apply them. Specifically, the scene makes it clear that Christians are acting hypocritical for holding to some parts of the Mosaic Law (ie regarding homosexuality as a sin) and not others.
Here is one example:
… we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean – Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves can the Washington Redskins still play football?
Unfortunately, this scene was cut from that episode. A young journalist steps forward.
On June 26, 2013 the SCOTUS decided US v. Windsor (No. 12307) in a 5-4 decision that overturned the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). It held that DOMA violated the equal protection provision of the Fifth Amendment. DOMA had defined marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman for the purpose of all federal laws.
Rachel Held Evans, writing for the CNN Belief Blog, not only celebrates the SCOTUS decision to rule DOMA unconstitutional but also argues that the Church should join the Court in overturning the traditional definition of marriage. Continue reading
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