Biblical Ethics and Gay Marriage in California
California has been in the news again recently concerning the topic of gay marriage. As I’m sure everyone knows, California passed Prop 8 last fall, a State amendment banning gay marriage, and its passage was widely attributed to a divers coalition of Churches and Christian groups.
For nearly two now weeks Prop 8 has been on trial with both sides arguing over the purpose of marriage. But what I find most interesting is that those bringing the lawsuit opposing it Prop 8 have continually asked witnesses defending the proposition whether or not the legalization of Gay marriage would benefit the spouses and children in gay families. In each case, these witnesses have conceded that it certainly would.
This, I think, is a bit of a coup for the plaintiff.
Also, last week a team of Sociologists from USC published the results of a five-year study and concluded that children raised by same-sex couples on average thrive as well as those of opposite-sex couples and better than single heterosexual parent households. Moreover, they claim the evidence suggests that children raised by same-sex women do the best of all.
There’s a great deal that could be discussed here, including the scientific veracity of the study. That’s very important but this isn’t a science blog and, for now, I’m more interested in another question.
So here it is:
If it can be shown that the legalization of gay marriage positively impacts the physical and emotional well-being of a minority group of men, women, and children then do Christians have a moral and biblical imperative to support it or would you say that, even though a minority group would suffer, that the protection of the traditionally practiced institution of marriage is the best way to support the well-being of everyone in general?
I’m interested in hearing a wide range of Christian perspectives on this, so whether you’re conservative or liberal, gay or straight, please feel welcome to contribute your thoughts. However, fair warning: Comments that I deem to be out of line will be deleted.
