homosexuality and polygamy

With religious right fundamentalists and folks like Dr. James Dobson crying out against gay marriage, it has been in vogue in liberal circles, and many times the Emergent Church, to support gay marriage. The hope of many emergent Christians is that by allowing gay marriage, the Christian community will show the love of Christ to many in the homosexual community.

I sympathize with this line of thinking, while I don't necessarily agree. My hope is that the gay community would begin to experience the love of Christ and would reflect that in the way they operate in their relationships. My hope for gays who become followers of Christ is that they begin to live out a God honoring sexuality. But a new twist in current events has revealed the problem of gay marriage in a very real way.

I don't believe homosexuality is what God intended in His creation. Some of my friends don't believe active homosexuality is sinful. But regardless of all of the moral disagreement behind the issue, the legal question still stands. Should gay marriage be legal? For it to be legal, the definition of marriage has to change. Once that happens, who else do we "legalize?"

This past Saturday a rally was held in Utah in favor of polygamy. Polygamy is against the law in the U.S. But have we ever asked ourselves why? Most of us have just taken it for granted that polygamy is not right. But who says it's not right? And who's definition of "right and wrong" do we go with? Here is an article which describes the rally.

If we change the definition of marriage, what do we change it to? If you have ever seen Jerry Springer, you can imagine that there are different kinds of "marriages" that people would like to take place other than just polygamy or homosexuality. How do we know what to allow "in" as marriage and what to outlaw? My guess is that many feminists in the N.O.W. march in rallies for gay rights and gay marriage. And yet many of those same activists are appalled at polygamy, claiming that it is abusive and oppressive to the many wives who are involved. So the irony is that while they want to open the marriage door for gays and lesbians, they want polygamy to stay illegal.

So regardless of where you come out morally on homosexuality, the problem of gay marriage still stands. If we change the standard definition of marriage from what it has always been in the U.S., we would never be able to agree on what the new definition should be. New activists in every generation will rise up to claim their right for their own unique kind of "marriage." Should we allow anything to become a "marriage"? After all, who are we to "legislate morality?" Who are we to say marrying multiple wives is wrong? Who are we to say what someone can or can't do with their pet goat? Why should our morality matter at all when it comes to making laws?

Or, maybe we are called to draw the line. Maybe we are, as Christians, called to help manifest the Kingdom of God in our own culture, nation, and yes, laws. Maybe this means we advocate for a biblical view of marriage for our country and not be swept up in what's "politically popular" with our demographic.