Opinion: A Christian argument in favour of gay marriage

I am a Christian. I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe it is an institution that should be strengthened. That is why I believe that people who want to get married should be encouraged to do so - regardless of sexual orientation. The Bible is confusing on the issue. Homosexuality is condemned in the Old Testament. However, all Christians disregard many of its teachings: we eat pork and we don’t stone disobedient children. The passages in the New Testament that refer to it are open to interpretation and questions over translation (the Greek expression ἀρσενοκοίτης, used by St Paul, is taken to mean many different things by different people). A key argument for those who oppose gay marriage is that the Bible’s laws are immutable: what was legitimate thousands of years ago is legitimate now and what was illegitimate then is illegitimate now. Of course, this did not stop us rejecting slavery, which is condoned by the Old Testament and to some extent regulated by St Paul in the New Testament. Today, all of us would agree that owning slaves is completely incompatible with Christianity. We moved on from slavery, can we not now turn our backs on homophobia? We have heard a lot from assorted churches about how letting “the gays” marry will destroy marriage. Isn’t it funny that Christians are obsessed with what goes on in the bedroom but are relatively silent on the grotesque economic inequalities in our world? These inequalities see 21,000 children die each day - and those are children, not foetuses. This lacuna is strange as Jesus did not rail against homosexuality but he did consistently challenge the wealthy and powerful, condemning greed and excessive wealth. How come we Christians do not follow that example? How come so many of us focus our wrath on gay people or pregnant women who do not wish to be pregnant? While I respect the faith of my coreligionists (and indeed adherents of other religions as well), I can't help but feel that they have missed an important point. From my reading of the Bible, it strikes me that Jesus consistently sided with the despised “minorities” of his day: women, tax collectors, lepers, Samaritans. In my view, homosexuals are the despised minority in this debate. And Jesus was pretty explicit on how we should treat others. He did not, as far as we know, speak out on homosexuality but he did instruct us to:

• Be … merciful as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)
• Judge not that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1).
• Love thy neighbour as thyself (Mark 12:31).

Perhaps we should pay some attention to those commandments when we consider those whose sexual orientation differs from the majority. We do have a concrete example of how Jesus viewed those who condemn the sexual behaviour of others. Surely his approach is shown by the passage in John’s Gospel known as “the woman taken in adultery”. While fine, upstanding religious leaders prepared to stone to death the woman in question, Jesus challenged them: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And Christendom is most surely not without sin. In the name of the Prince of Peace we have started wars, tortured people of other faiths, burned pagans, witches, heretics and those who disagree about what happens to the bread during Holy Communion. Clergymen enthusiastically supported Franco’s fascists (even though the Generalissimo murdered priests who opposed him). Centuries of Christian anti-Semitism gave succour to the architects of the Holocaust. The prejudices of certain Christian groups have seen condom-use undermined in the face of the AIDS epidemic. Children raped by clergymen have been silenced and ignored. We have sucked up to the rich and despised the poor. In Scotland, blind bigotry for too long found a hiding place under a fig-leaf of religion. How we fail the founder of our faith. Here’s a radical idea: why don’t we get our own house in order and focus on the things that Jesus Christ identified as priorities? Why don’t we use our influence to ensure that the poor are properly provided for, the sick everywhere treated, the oppressed welcomed, the tools of violence set aside? After we’ve done that - after we’ve fed the world’s hungry, shared the West’s medical resources, invoked tolerance everywhere and ended war - then we can have an intense theological debate on what people who do not necessarily share our views do in the bedroom. In the meantime, if you are a Christian who does not agree with gay marriage, don’t marry someone of your own gender. As for those who are gay and want to make that commitment, let them get on with it and don't judge them.

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