I live in California where gay marriage is, at least for the moment, legal.
In my local newspaper I noticed an article about some local pastors protesting outside the city clerk’s office, and holding up signs with Bible verses, as gay couples made their way to get their licenses. Here’s the link: http://www.avpress.com/n/18/0618_s1.hts . And here’s the money quote from the article:
Pastor Michael Alexander, read Scriptures from his Bible and said, “We are taking a stand against an act that is not godly.
“This is a sin against our God, and it’s a sin against us. Judgment will come to California for the sin they allowed to enter our state,” Alexander said. “We are not going to let anyone take God’s truth and make it a lie.”
In light of this, I’d just ask thoughtful people to consider the selective way that these pastors use the Bible against gay people.
It is true that the Bible says in a number of places that homosexual acts are wrong. But the Bible also says that eating shellfish is wrong, and getting a divorce is wrong. The Bible also says that disobedience to parents, as well as witchcraft, should result in the death penalty. And the Bible even takes a dim view of gathering material possessions, “where moths and dust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal.”
But please notice that we see no pastoral pressure on the state of California to thus close Red Lobster restaurants or to make divorce illegal. We hear no calls for the state-sponsored stoning of children, the burning of witches, or the banning of Walmarts.
Something else is obviously going on with regard to homosexuality.
Perhaps, for the purpose of their own self-knowledge, my local anti-gay pastors should put down their Bibles for a week, and take up the reading of Sigmund Freud. Maybe Freud would help them figure out why some lifestyles and Bible passages arouse them to self-righteous agitation, while others illicit barely a shrug, or simply go ignored.
Prometheus Unbound 