Letter from America

Recently, the Massachusetts State has ruled that homosexual marriage is legal. This is an enormous, ground-breaking piece of legislation for a number of reasons.

First, it runs against the legislative norms of any established society in the history of the world. Never has there been a society where homosexual marriage has been deemed as on equal footing, legally speaking, to heterosexual marriage. Obviously, homosexual activity has long been a part of human society. Societies have dealt with it in various ways. Some have swept the matter under the carpet. Others have persecuted homosexuals. Others have lauded homosexual behaviour as an ideal form of love. None have legislated it as a full and equal part of marriage. This is for obvious reasons: homosexuality is not procreative. It is an interesting side bar to this current debate that population levels are actually decreasing in many Western societies today.

Second, this piece of legislative ruling is also astonishing from a current political standpoint too. In other states in America, until very recently sodomy was illegal. That is, you could be arrested, convicted and tried (at least in theory) for the act of homosexual sexual penetration. In other words, this piece of legislation brings into stark relief, once again, how America is becoming something of a schizophrenic society. This bifurcation of American society is also illustrated by its reaction to the presidency of George Bush. There are people who love him. There are people who hate him. Rarely do you find people who are simply ambivalent.

Third, though, and most significantly from a Christian point of view, this legislation runs directly counter to the straightforward teaching of the Bible. Now, as I say this, you will realise that I am a pastor and am aware of folk for whom homosexuality is a struggle. I am aware of the difficulty, psychological and spiritual, which comes in its way. However, I am just not willing to give away the fact that the Bible does plainly address the issue of homosexuality. It does. Read it. All the academic side-stepping and intellectual schmoozing you can muster will not get me to see how one can deny that Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6 (to name but two) chapters plainly address the issue. We should be compassionate. We should also be clear. Both are needed in the current climate.

Deeply sad

However, not only is this news groundbreaking, it is also, to my mind, deeply sad.

Of course, the word 'gay' was coined initially as a defensive move to characterise the homosexual as not sad or repressed or inhibited, but instead 'happy'. Since then, more rhetorical moves have been made in favour of the direction in which society is moving. Statistics have been inflated to attempt to prove that the issue is far more common than it is. Nowadays the homosexual is viewed not as one who has chosen a certain life style but as someone who is part of a particular race. Watch this space: it will not be long before denying the validity of homosexual activity will be daubed a 'hate crime' on a par with denying the validity of being Jewish or black or Asian.

There was deep rejoicing in that Massachusetts court. But think of its implications: if someone is married in Massachusetts will their marriage really not be accepted in another state? And what then?

To my mind, we should be in deep mourning. Not just for the many who will by this believe the lie that the gay lifestyle is always the happiest or indeed the hippiest lifestyle (a new American show, wildly popular, called 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy', presents homosexual men as always more fashionable than heterosexual men). But also for the glory of God, whose image is mirrored in man, both male and female.

A gay day?

Deeply sad

Josh Moody