In one of the discussions spawned by my commentary on the same-sex marriage issue that is resulting in a split in the United Methodist Church, one of my friends and regular readers suggested that the LGBT “rights” activists would not stop there and his prediction is that the next demand of the Church by that lobby will be the full affirmation of polygamy. My tendency was to brush this off, but wait, last month the Utah state senate voted unanimously to decriminalize polygamy! There is no end to the LGBT activist push in every walk of life and every corner of culture, not simply for a welcoming tolerance of the gay lifestyle, but full affirmation with no exceptions.
The interesting side bar to this decision is that Chief Justice John Roberts as much as predicted all of this in his dissent in the 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court in Obergfell v. Hodges in June 2015, which legalized same sex marriage in all states. Here is what he wrote: “One immediate question invited by the majority’s position is whether States may retain the definition of marriage as a union of two people…….Indeed, from the standpoint of history and tradition, a leap from opposite-sex marriage to same-sex marriage is much greater than one from a two-person union to plural unions, which have deep roots in some cultures around the world. If the majority is willing to take the big leap, it is hard to see how it can say no to the shorter one”.
If you are wondering how we got here, there is no better place to start than with a quote from Justice Anthony Kennedy in the majority opinion in both Planned Parenthood v. Casey, governing abortion rights, in 1992 and Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, crafting a right to consensual sodomy, which I have used several times and which has become known as the “mystery passage”: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life”.
Folks, this is the ultimate of what Tom Sowell calls “the unconstrained vision”. There are no limits.
One must remember that the church does not judge scripture but that scripture judges the church.
It would be nice if the gay and LGBT crowd’s voice in America was in proportion to the small number of our citizens they represent.
I am a Methodist and support the right of the church to decide to marry gay couples. Our minister at St Lukes supports this and that is not a liberal bastion. I am not homosexual but support their rights as I believe about 60% of Americans do. I have never read that LBGTQ folks are advocating polygamy and those quotes from judges do not support this notion. The fear of homosexuals or homophobia is a rather strong force. I sometimes hear that if we are going to marry two men why not marry a man and his dog. I am not for polygamy and am sure gay folks do not advocate this.
I too am a Methodist and I doubt that many so-called mainstream churches will opt to leave the UMC over this issue. But it is interesting that, although the vote at General Conference has tightened considerably over time, the progressives have never actually won a vote. Yet in the proposal currently under consideration for the split, the burden is on the traditional churches to leave the denomination.
And don’t be so “sure” that the hard core LGBTQ activists won’t push hard for polygamy. After all, just 10-12 years ago, legalizing same-sex marriage seemed a fantasy, so stay tuned.
Three things my late father would not understand if he returned to from the dead today.
$1.25 for a bottle of water.
$3.50 for a cup of coffee.
And same sex marriage.
That’s funny, but true for most of us in his generation, and in many ways, sad.
I am disheartened by the statement “the right of the church to decide to marry gay couples”. The church is the body of Christ, not a building or denomination. Scripture defines marriage and Romans 1:18-32 is one of many places in scripture that define whether man or God is the ultimate arbitrator of right and wrong, truth and lies.