Gay Marriage

    I am a believing Christian, an avid reader of the Bible, and a proponent of gay marriage.
    Let's begin with the Bible.  Formally, and on my own, I have studied it for 25 years. It is a warm, wise, earthy, wonderfully sophisticated book. It is not like the caricatures made of it by rule-mongering moralizers.
    In parts it is a marvel of literature. Consider just one example: How would you capture on paper a fall from innocent grace to worldly shame? Genesis accomplishes this  in just seven words addressed by God to Adam and Eve when He finds them attempting clothing: "Who told you that you were naked?"
    I read the Bible frequently and cherish it as a source of nourishment. I see in it no requirement that we condemn homosexuality out of hand. Explaining would require far more than a blog posting. For now let me simply say that this is what I find in my study.  This also is what I am told by the clergy of the church I attend and leaders of the denomination we belong to. (I am an Episcopalian.)  The Bible that I read calls upon me to respect the dignity of every human being, to love others and not to judge them.
    Over the years I have acquired several gay friends. I have a couple of gay relatives. With the single exception of their sexual orientation, they are like my straight friends and relatives.  Most are exemplary people. Some are flawed. They work, pay taxes, give to charity, go to church.  They love their families and keep good homes. They care about the difference between right and wrong. Some are committed in long-term, monogamous relationships.  For some, relationships have failed. Some prefer to remain single.  In short, they live life as it comes to the rest of us, and they harm no one in greater degree than all of us do.
    It is simply not true to say that gay people threaten proper values or the stability of families. Homosexuality is not contagious, nor is it inherently hostile to principled behavior.  I see no reason why my gay friends should not have the same right as I to make a marital commitment. I see no reason why the government should set out to prevent it.
    Alas, members of my state legislature do not agree. Although gay marriage is already against the law in North Carolina, the legislature has proposed a double prohibition in the form of an amendment to the state constitution.  The proposal will go to the voters in May.
    The debate has played out along familiar lines.  Proponents cite a Biblical standard of right and wrong -- as they define it.  Opponents say gay marriage is an issue of civil rights, not religion.
     I say the issue, as it is framed in this proposal for a constitutional amendment, is some of both.
     Gay marriage is an issue of civil rights insofar as a minority is arbitrarily barred from doing what the majority freely does.  But in North Carolina, in May, it will also be a religious issue in this way: The proposed amendment represents an attempt to write religious precept into civil law.
     This is a ghastly and dangerous mistake.   Moreover, it is an attempt to write into civil law one particular interpretation of Christian scripture, to the exclusion of others.
     This is offensive to me, as a Christian, on religious grounds. I read the Bible. I have read all of it twice, most of it three times, and the New Testament more times than I can count. I have studied it with experts, and with teachers of palpable spirituality.. I know what it says, and what it does not say.  I know that it can be approached from different directions and experienced in different ways. I know that the heart of its profound beauty is its capacity to touch all of us, no matter who we are or where we are in life.
     I don't want the legislature of North Carolina telling me what I am allowed to hear in it.