Comments on: My two cents on the decision to legalize same-sex marriage

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 22:38:00 +0000

Also, thanks for sharing the video! Well said 🙂

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 22:36:00 +0000

I think that there are a lot of Christians who were happy about the Supreme Court’s ruling, but I also think that Christians hesitate to share their beliefs when they know it will go against other Christians/their peers. In my women’s small group we haven’t talked about the ruling, and I’m kind of hoping it doesn’t get brought up because (as I’ve seen on Facebook) I know that some of the women have very strong views against the legalization of gay marriage, and I just don’t want to get into an argument over what the Bible says or doesn’t say about this topic -since I believe the issue is much more legal than religious in the first place! Basically, I do think it can be quite awkward to be a liberal Christian!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 22:32:00 +0000

I think the problem is that we use the same word, ‘marriage’ in both legal and religious contexts, and some people just can’t separate the two different ideas. I think it’s going to take some time for people to get used to the idea, but then this whole thing will be a non-issue and the next generation won’t understand why there was a time when only a man and a woman could be married.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 22:30:00 +0000

I totally agree with you. I think it’s easy to say that non-Christians or gay people shouldn’t get married when you’re a married Christian who already enjoys the benefits of LEGAL marriage without even thinking about them.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 22:29:00 +0000

Yeah I really don’t understand why some people are acting like it’s the same thing… I think it’s because we use the word ‘marriage’ in both legal and religious contexts.

By: Hannah

Hannah — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 17:39:00 +0000

I love this! I shared Game of Thrones official Instagram celebration of the ruling on my Facebook and then a Buzzfeed article of people claiming our country is going to hell in a hand basket so they want to move to Canada (ha!) and a lot of my friends laughed and celebrated right along with me. But I noticed the absence of my close friends from church with maybe one or two exceptions hitting like on those posts. The weekend prior, I said to one of my best friends “It’s so hard being a Christian Democrat!” before I even realized who I was talking to. She replied, “Try being a gay Christian!” Obviously I ate my words quickly and I’m still mortified I said that to her. (Yikes.) But it’s tough. It’s really tough. I’ve seemingly lost out on the opportunity to date some really great Christian guys in my community because regardless of what I believe personally and in my faith, I support legalizing gay marriage and a woman’s right to chose what’s best for her body and all of that “crazy liberal agenda”. One of my best friend’s mom who is also a leader in our a young adult ministry shared a video over the weekend about her thoughts on gay marriage. I won’t lie, I rolled my eyes a bit and probably said out loud “Oh jeez, what now!” because she seems to always be sharing stuff from Conservative Daily and posting her thoughts on just about any subject you can think of. (Which is totally fine obviously, it just gets old.) But I watched the video since it was actually the pastor at my church and I was pleasantly surprised by it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjDO8XaIT9Y&feature=youtu.be) I totally 100% agree, that above all, we’re all Americans and we’re all entitled to the exact same life, liberties, and happiness regardless of what anyone in this country believes. Anyway, I love this post (and your blog, duh!) and it’s very comforting to know that someone who has the same foundation of belief in Christianity shares my excitement for the ruling last week. Although I’m positive we’re not the only ones!

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 15:25:00 +0000

YES. This. I have thought about doing a post on the ruling but I honestly get too worked up drafting it in my head. We have a freedom OF religion in this country, meaning you get to believe whatever you want; AND a freedom FROM religion, meaning you can’t impose those beliefs on other people. I can see why there’s *some* confusion because politicians (and our currency, ‘in god we trust’) so conflate church and state. That being said, marriage is a fundamental right, legally speaking (has been defined as one since 1976). The recent decision is simply granting people CIVIL legal rights and has nothing to do with religion. People can crow about marriage being a religious and spiritual institution and a sacrament all they want, but until the federal and state governments do away with all civil benefits associated with marriage and make it SOLELY a religious institution, there’s no leg to stand on there. Obviously I come at this from a largely legal viewpoint, but I also believe in equality and all that fuzzy stuff. I just find the legal arguments to be the most subjective. haha.

By: Bethany @ Accidental Intention

Bethany @ Accidental Intention — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 14:50:00 +0000

Ummm this is fantastic. I grew up in an EXTREMELY conservative church (well, I had a weird church upbringing that’s way too long to get into here, but for the sake of this comment, we’ll focus on the extremely conservative church), and I can only imagine what kind of judgement and hatred in the name of “Well, the BIBLE says…” came from the pulpit on Sunday morning. (This church, for the record, is still not entirely sure that women are actual human beings with, you know, the ability or right to do anything beyond motherhood/teaching/church social life organizing, so anything related to same sex acceptance is a LOOOOONNNNGGGGGG way down the road for them.) While marriage is certainly a religious institution for religious people, it’s hardly an exclusively religious institution–how many non-religious people do you know that are married? I certainly know plenty. I don’t think their marriages cheapen or desecrate or corrupt marriage as an institution, even though religion isn’t involved, but I’ve never heard that argument made by anyone in church — that non-religious people shouldn’t get married because God won’t be the center of their marriage. In the eyes of the government, marriage is a legal arrangement, not a religious one, and I don’t see how extending legal rights to a traditionally marginalized group of people impedes on my religious freedom (a freedom I think Christians in particular can easily take for granted, because I don’t think there has ever in the history of this country been a time where the majority actively tried to keep us down based on our beliefs).

By: Kaitlin Rose

Kaitlin Rose — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 11:51:00 +0000

THANK YOU. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. I’ve been mortified by other Christian’s responses to this. Spiritual marriage and legal marriage are totally different.