A Question for my Christian Friends

I been trying to decide which way I want to go with this blog?   I think I’ve been pretty clear about my opinions on religion and how I came to them, so I don’t see much more need to explain my views.  Just as a recap, I am an agnostic, not an atheist…  Well most Christian would call atheist, because I don’t believe in their god, but then I don’t believe in any of the other manmade gods either, but, I won’t argue the concept of a God, that is, based on our current level of comprehension, an unknowable and improvable point for either side.  But, that is not the purpose of this post…

I have a question for my Christian friends who stand with the desire to band any marriage, but that between a man and a woman.  With President Obama just recently announcing his support for same-sex marriage, and North Carolina going a completely different direction…  banning just about any civil union, other than a traditional marriage, I am left with some curiosity on the Christians’ true position on marriage.  Seems to me, from the arguments I have heard there are just a couple of keep points in the arguments:

1.      Somehow the concept of a marriage is, and always has been, the traditional view of a single union between and man and a woman.

2.      That somehow same-sex marriages will destroy the sanctity of marriage.

Seems on the first point, that the traditional view of marriage is only traditional to primarily Christians and Jews, and even in their views, some discrepancy in their interpretations, the Mormons claim to be Christians, yet believe in polygamy (even if most do practice it today).  That’s just one point…  In the Middle East, a man having multiple wives is also not uncommon.  I have also heard that the general view that for Christians the Bible specifically forbids relationships between members of the same sex.  Yet, I heard a very compelling argument by a young gay Christian that would seem to indication there are some interpretational discrepancies in Biblical claim of forbidding homosexual relations.  Additionally confusing the matter is the combining of Hebrew law and doctrine along with newer Christian law and doctrine within the canonization of the Christian Bible.  Now I have checked, but there now come the questions of traditional marriage in all the other theological views in the world?  I don’t know for sure, but, I have heard different things for some of other friends of differing religious views.  Finally, it was all that long ago that a traditional of marriage excluded interracial unions.  So the question here is:  Is your traditional view of marriage actually traditional?

But it is the second point that I find the most curious.  It would seem to me that the religious views of the sanctity of the holy bonds of matrimony were long ago damaged beyond repair.  First, if marriage is a holy sacrament, why then did the churches not lobby the government to stay out of the marriage business by preventing it from issuing ‘marriage’ licenses, and disallowing a justice of the peace to perform a marriage ceremonies.  It would seem that this would have been the time to differentiate between marriages as defined by religious institutions and civil unions as defined for legal purposes.  Interestingly, at least here in this country, you can have a marriage performed by a civil authority that isn’t recognized by any church.  However, I don’t know of many churches that will marry you without that civil license, and even if they do, it isn’t recognized as a legal union.  So, it would seem that churches have accepted that the legal definition takes precedence over the sacred.  Additionally there is a practice today that over half of all marriages go through that I would think is far more detrimental to the sacred view of marriage…  That would be divorce, and yet I can find any real lobbying effort to legally ban divorce in our society.  Why is that, and so to why is same-sex marriage any more detrimental to the sanctity of marriage than divorce?  I have been happily married for 27 years next month.  Never in all those years has the increasing rate of divorce had any negative impact on the sanctity of my marriage, nor has that of my homosexual friends’ relationships.  I see no reason to believe that allowing these friends to enter into the loving committed bond of matrimony would likewise have a negative impact

So, bottom line, my question is, as with most religious morals questions, why are Christians so intent on enforcing their moral views on everyone, even outside the Christian faith?  It seems to me no one is demanding, or even requesting, that you do something with which you have a moral problem…  And, no one is demanding that the (our choice here) church must perform these same-sex marriages. 

So what is the real issue with same-sex marriage???

Your comments or questions are always welcome, and I have added an email address for those not wishing to comment openly in this forum.  Emails can be sent to recoveringcathcon@gmail.com. However, please know that if this account is used to flood me with trash and hate mail, I will shut it down.