Opinion: Marriages of same-sex couples face a religious obstacle

Link: Salt Lake Tribune
by Harold Jackson

Excerpt:

[...]

When the phone caller told me [my brother] Calvin was sick, I immediately made plans to go see him. There, I met the "roommate" who I then knew was Calvin's partner - the man who made sure he received the best home hospice care available. Only months later, Calvin died. I was glad he had someone who loved him with him during the ordeal. No one should be alone knowing death is so near.

    I think of Calvin often. But he's come to mind a lot more in recent weeks, amid news that a bill to ban gay marriage in Pennsylvania is advancing in the legislature.

    It would take a change in the state constitution to make same-sex marriage illegal, an arduous process that may not be achieved. The bill's sponsors don't seem to care. They want to discourage any counter attempt to legalize gay marriage in Pennsylvania.

[...]

For government, marriage represents a contract between two adults who have agreed to share a household and attendant responsibilities. There's nothing particularly holy about having a justice of the peace in a courthouse tie the knot. It's a legal proceeding that's called marriage.

    A religious ceremony conducted by a member of the clergy under the authority of God is more than a legal proceeding. But it's called a marriage, too.

    My church would not marry same-sex couples, and should not be forced to by government edict. But, to me, that doesn't mean gay couples should be denied a nonreligious marriage.

    Neither I nor my church would recognize them as married under God, but they don't care about us. They care about getting the taxation, insurance and government-services benefits of being a legal pair.

    Some would argue that to condone same-sex marriage in any form is to condone sin. I am no theologian, no preacher, but I do believe that we all sin and that all who don't repent and put their faith in Christ for salvation will face the same fate. That's gospel.

    That our government gives us the freedom to sin does not absolve us from responsibility for our actions.

    Even in those countries we look down on for mixing government and religion, there are sinners. Governments try, but they really can't legislate what they believe to be moral behavior. Each person will decide what is right, what is wrong, and which path he or she prefers. No government edict will make homosexuality go away. Neither will it be discouraged by ineffective "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rules.

    I didn't think of Calvin and his partner as married, but I never questioned that his partner should be bequeathed whatever Calvin wanted him to have. They had an understanding that was clear to me. I would never use marriage to describe their relationship, but if that's the word needed for government to recognize a same-sex couple as a legal pair, then let it be. But leave the churches that don't recognize those "marriages" alone.
    ---
    Harold Jackson is editorial page editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

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