The problem with a life of privilege is that after a while, equality for all starts to look like oppression. Neil Carter breaks down the new realities of the SCOTUS ruling on marriage.
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The cheerleaders for Team Evangelical have gotten everyone worked up into a lather over the 5-4 victory for supporters of marriage equality, but I suspect much of their zeal has been misplaced.
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve read of one straight couple in Australia who say they will divorce if gay marriage is approved by their government, we’ve read of a pastor who essentially offered to set himself on fire or be shot in order to prevent it from coming to pass, and Glenn Beck has said that he has upwards of 10,000 pastors on hand ready to die in order to resist this single change. Whoa, there, hold your horses, folks! Can we put down the cray for a second and talk some sense into this situation? Please?
I do see one or two legitimate losses for you in this outcome, but I also see some imaginary ones and I’d like to offer my perspective as to which ones are which.
Four Ways in Which Nothing Will Change
1) No one is going to make you be gay. Now that SCOTUS has finally declared that discriminating against people on the basis of their sexual orientation violates their basic rights, they are not saying that you have to become gay now yourself. This approval of same-sex marriage at the national level does not mean that you now have to get gay married, okay? So let’s get that part out of the way first. It also doesn’t mean that you can’t teach your own children to judge other people for their sexual orientation. You’re still free to do that, no matter what. It’s your right. It’s a part of your religion (or at least of your particular version, just don’t ask the other people in your religion who don’t see it the same way), so the United States government is not going to take that away from you, I promise.
2) Preachers will not be forced to marry gay people. Thanks to the same First Amendment that keeps your religion from taking over everyone else’s lives, those churches which do not approve of this move will remain free to disapprove of it—and to speak publicly about their disapproval—for as long as you still care about this issue. What’s more, that constitutional protection has enabled churches to refuse to marry anyone they choose despite every new national advance in the fight for civil rights. You don’t want to marry an interracial couple? That’s actually your right. Always has been, always will be. Your churches will remain free to reject as many kinds of people and relationships as you please. This is a well-established protection that will not budge no matter what those who disagree with you wish were the case. Even if somebody tries to take you to court over it in the future, they will fail because your constitutional protections overrule their personal views. That’s how this works.
3) It will not become illegal to be a Christian. Ever the opportunist willing to stoke the fires of evangelicals’ persecution complexes, Mike Huckabee continues to spout warnings that once LGBT folks are given the same rights as the rest of us the government will begin putting people in jail for openly disparaging this move. He continues to capitalize on evangelicals’ irrational fears that the Christian faith will soon be criminalized like it was back in ancient Rome under a completely different kind of government. Huckabee used to run the entire state of Arkansas, but I honestly can’t tell if he just really doesn’t get how the US government works, or if he’s being intentionally dishonest in order to whip his potential base into a frenzy just to get their vote. Either way, you shouldn’t listen to him because he’s misleading you.
4) God isn’t going to destroy America. I can’t really tell if my Christian friends seriously think this will happen even though they use the rhetoric a lot. Most American evangelicals I know harbor a deep sense of exceptionalism which leads them to believe that God needs America in ways that would prevent him from wiping us out. But even people who are free from that notion don’t realize the Bible itself singles out other sins as the cause of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Ezekiel says this:
Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
Funny, that’s never what you hear evangelicals say will be the reason for our impending destruction. And yet even when Jesus threatened a locale with the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, it apparently had nothing to do with their sexual orientation and everything to do with their lack of hospitality.
Now, obviously as an atheist I’m not really looking for fire and brimstone to fall from the sky, consuming America or any other country for that matter. But I’m not so far removed from my own evangelical upbringing that I can’t remember how to think like a Baptist. Yet even when I put my faith cap back on and look at this from that perspective, I fail to see how this above all other moral issues would merit fire from heaven. Like I keep saying, for some it would seem that the most important thing about you is what you do with your genitals. Even in my devout days, I couldn’t go along with that way of looking at people. It feels so incredibly dehumanizing and reductionistic.
Alright, now that I’ve gotten those things off my chest, here are a handful of things that I do believe are legitimate concerns, and the evangelical church will have to wrestle with these inevitabilities now that marriage equality has become the law of the land.
Four Things That Really Will Change
1) For-profit businesses run by Christians will not be free to discriminate because of people’s sexual orientation. Can you stop for a second and acknowledge the difference between a business and a church? The rules and protections for each are different, although I can’t say that I blame you for sometimes failing to see the distinction. With churches and pastors raking in billions of dollars a year (all tax-free) and schools and businesses enforcing the religious beliefs of their owners on employees, the lines get very blurred. The bottom line is that as long as an organization operates on a for-profit basis, it remains subject to state and federal laws governing businesses, which means they are not free to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, or even (from this point forward) sexual orientation.
2) Negative public opinion toward churches who oppose this move will become solidified, placing you on the losing side of the culture war on this matter. Now we’re getting at the heart of the matter for evangelicals. Today’s defeat in Obergefell v. Hodges signals that public opinion has shifted away from the traditional evangelical view, and it serves as an emblem of a sea change that you’ve been anticipating and lamenting for decades. This is a further indication that evangelicalism has lost some of its grip over the surrounding culture so that now those who oppose this change will be looked down upon by those who are supposed to be beneath them, not above them. Listen to Southern Baptist seminary president Al Mohler in this remarkably transparent admission:
Here’s what he said:
Let’s be honest, there’s not really a danger that the sheriff’s gonna show up and say, “You have to do this.” So far as I know, no pastor has been sued successfully for refusing to marry someone on other grounds. That’s not the real danger. The real danger is we’re going to pay an enormous social, cultural price for not doing a same-sex ceremony. We’re going to be considered morally deficient. Let’s admit it. We’re much more accustomed to being accused of being morally superior. They’ve said we’ve been “stand-offish” meaning better than them, now a large part of this culture thinks we are morally deficient. And we’re going to find that’s a very different way to do ministry.
3) You will indeed lose a bit more of your privilege. I’m convinced the real loss in today’s decision for evangelicals is that it signals a loss of power over the surrounding culture, and that’s a power you’ve enjoyed for a very long time. As a friend of mine, Mark Caddo, recently said:
The problem with being privileged your whole life is that [after] you have had that privilege for so long, equality starts to look like oppression.
Stated in terms that are perhaps more sympathetic to my friends, it upsets you that your children and grandchildren will grow up in a world that accepts as normal something you have been taught to believe is immoral. Who would want that for their children? Honestly I can see how that would be upsetting.
All I can do in response to that is to ask: Are you willing to acknowledge that this principle about which you are so certain might not be as important to God as it has become to you? I know that it has become a singular focus for your church tradition, but you prayed and you sought God’s mind and you told him “thy will be done,” and this is what resulted. Is it not possible that this was in fact what he wanted? Have you forgotten the verses that say:
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
Do you believe this also applies to the Supreme Court of the United States? Will you speak out against your state and local officials when they encourage sedition and nullification as they did in the days of the civil war?
4) Fifty years from now evangelicals will claim they helped bring marriage equality to pass. You read it here first. I would bet my life savings on it (okay, so maybe that’s not saying much). Just as the same conservative Christian traditions that opposed the abolition of slavery now claim credit for making it happen, I’m going on record in predicting that 50 years from now evangelical churches—whatever they have evolved into by that time—will be claiming today’s victory as their own. As soon as the memory of all the bitter opposition to this development has gone to the grave with this generation, revisionist historians will look back on people like Brandan Robertson and Matthew Vines in order to argue that the evangelical church was out in front of social progress, calling for the equal inclusion of their LGBT brothers and sisters in the name of Jesus. They will have completely forgotten that in our day it was the evangelical churches that issued all the ultimatums and spoke in dire apocalyptic terms about this change in public opinion.
Take a deep breath, folks. It’s going to be alright. You say you believe that God is in control, right? Do you really believe that? Or are you worried that you have to somehow make that mean anything at all through your own actions? If his power over the world is entirely dependent upon yours, maybe you need to find a bigger God.
Or better yet….well, you know, maybe reconsider if you really believe what you say you believe.
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Photo: Purple Sherbet Photography/Flickr
This originally appeared on Neil Carter’s Godless in Dixie blog
This is a truly vicious swipe at Christianity.
And YES! Alex is correct in claiming that the LGBT community would NEVER attack Islam in a similar manner. NEVER!
This page supposed to pertain to creating better men, not degrading those with whom the curator does not agree or respect. At present, no one—including social scientists, philosophers, and historians—can predict with any certainty what the long-term ramifications of widespread acceptance of same-sex marriage will be. And judges are certainly not equipped to make such an assessment.” The court took the extraordinary step of ordering every state to license and recognize same-sex marriage. Many people have rejoiced at this decision, and I begrudge none of their celebration. But for those who believe in a government of the people, not of… Read more »
David, this would get a definate thumbs up. GREAT response!
David and all: Regarding “As for me, I will continue loving my fellow man and not judging those around me, I am not God and have no authority to judge people, but I will continue to place God’s objectivity on ideas and actions as he has called us to do so. ” Let me agree that we are not to judge as God will judge. Furthermore, We are NOT called upon by God to be his police force. In practice, we ought not act in violence or hatred of the Gay community and its individuals. HOWEVER: God does not command… Read more »
Neil Carter; I bet in less than fifty years you will be expressing surprise that the same legal principles used to force same-sex marriage on all fifty states will be used to force polygamy on them too. Or maybe you already know that?
Nah. When we, and our moustache-twirling, society-destroying agenda, come to force you to legalize polygamy, we’ll use all the many many examples of polygamy IN THE BIBLE. It’ll be more ironic and evil-laugh-inducing that way.
Sincerely,
the Evil Progressive Agenda
It won’t take 50 years, it’s already being proposed and why shouldn’t it?
What it comes down to is societal attitude that for some reason people want to ONLY address the Evangelical community. In reality, there have been denominations that have changed their views. The article focused on the Evangelicals but could have easily incorporated other groups like the Muslims. Look at some history of articles with GMP, whereas there are plenty of positive articles relating to Christian denominations that have a liberal view (accepting of LGBTQ community) but any mention of Christian denominations who don’t are ALWAYS seen in a negative light. Articles relating to Muslims are ALWAYS positive and you will… Read more »
@ Tom B. First of all, that’s quite the straw man argument you make there with regard to atheists and Muslims also being against gay marriage. The fact that other traditions have negative views on homosexuality does not negate the premises of this article. The points presented here are not made somehow invalid just because you work with an atheist who is a more vocal opponent than you are. Nor is this article irrelevant just because it is directed at evangelicals and not directed at some other religious sect. Second, if you truly believe that it will become “illegal to… Read more »
Jesus didn’t threaten Sodom and Gomorrah with destruction at all. That came long before his time in the Jewish pentateuch, which we call the old testament. Those who follow Christmas should read basically only the new year ament which relays the teachings of Jesus and doesn’t necessarily support everything in the Jewish bible. It was a new way forward. And nowhere in the new does it mention hell and dam nation for same sex love. In fact he espouses god’s love for all his children, versus a god in the old description who rules with an iron fist. Totally talking… Read more »
Thanks Mark … You said “This will cause even more hatred and I posit violence will break out because of that.” I could see this happening… But what I have seen happen is some people I know who have been allies to LGBTQ are now rethinking their position and in a couple of cases have stepped back and will no longer support them. It’s not the gay marriage as much as the blatant FU attitude toward anyone of faith. Where as it as once, just treat LGBTQ the same as everyone else, it’s become a “look at me, I’m different… Read more »
Seriously? That’s a weak reason to convert to another religion/worldview…
“3) It will not become illegal to be a Christian.” But it will be illegal to practice their faith the way they have for countless years.
Pentagon Urged to Boot Chaplains Who Oppose ‘Gay’ Marriage ….
“But it will be illegal to practice their discrimination the way they have for countless years.” Fixed that for you. It’s honestly astounding to me how Christians can completely fail to recognize the distinction between customs that are personal and harmless and customs which have a major effect on OTHER PEOPLE. One of the keystones of morality is that your actions can and should be judged on the basis of their direct impact on others. The “way” you “practice your faith” attempts to regard a certain class of people as INHERENTLY immoral and promotes, often directly, the ostracization of those… Read more »
Alex Alonso
You impress me!
This is well said.
As it stands, your congregation is falling away left and right in the face of your stubbornness … Not stubbornness, Some denominations, like the Muslims, refuse to bend to the secular. And if that means the loss of congregants, so be it. Some churches are looking at down sizing to accommodate the truly faithful in that many of the faithful are becoming annoyed with denominations who are giving in for one reason … follow the money baby. When you speak of the evangelicals, most think of white southern Baptists, There is a very large movement of minority churches who are… Read more »
Without going through the entire article, I will point out one thing. There are atheists who are against this and the one I work with it far more vocal then I am.
Muslim community is one of the fastest growing …. I dare you to write a similar article about Muslims.
There may be atheists who are against this, but there is no atheistic creed that compels atheists, as a collective, to be against it. You point out your anecdotal experience, I’ll point out mine that I don’t know a single atheist who is against it. That’s fine. The fact remains that there’s no inherent reason for an atheist to be against it. 95% of the “arguments” against homosexual marriage are predicated on scripture. Junk science constitutes the other 5%. Muslim community may be one of the fastest growing in the world, and, in relation to other religions, there may be… Read more »
Muslims are very much open about their views on this. Like I said, I doubt anyone would be willing to write a similar article toward Muslims.
Alex, First, just because you and someone else disagree doesn’t give you the right to demean them or their “argument”. Why else would it be in quotes, right? It’s in vogue to attack Christianity, right? More to the point, while the majority of the opposition to gay marriage comes from the religious community (it just so happens that Christianity of some form is the largest religion in the US) there are legit reasons secular reasons as well. The biggest being biological. Why does a state even care about marriage (gay, straight or the next logical step polygamous)? Historically it’s been… Read more »