This commentary is the opinion of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views of other authors at Box Turtle Bulletin.
October 17th, 2008
In the world of anti-gay activism, there are those who will say or do anything to advance their anti-gay agenda. Integrity has long since been discarded and honesty always take a back seat to insinuation, innuendo, and sometimes blatant lies.
Take, for example, a recent outing by first graders to celebrate the marriage of their teacher to her wife. The bare facts, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, are these:
This story has delighted the anti-gay industry. Writers have distorted the story and passed it on for others to take it even further from the truth.
OneNewNow falsely states:
For the school-sponsored trip, 18 first-graders — ages 5 and 6 — were taken to San Francisco City Hall to witness the wedding of their teacher and her lesbian partner.
Yes on 8’s Chip White told CNSNews:
“The other side claims that we’re lying (when we say) that same-sex marriage will be taught in schools. This field trip shows not only will same-sex marriage be taught in schools, but it already is being taught in schools,” he said.
Concerned Women for America’s Leslie Smith claimed
Conservative and liberal critics alike are decrying the use of taxpayer money to bus the students to the ceremony under the auspices of “education.”
CWA’s Wendy Wright went beyond getting the facts wrong and blatantly lied when she said
And it didn’t take long for activists to go straight to children to advance their agenda, as if other people’s children are merely pawns.
Consistent through out the repeating and retelling of this story is a need on the part of anti-gays to create a situation that did not occur. Their desire to win an election has vastly overpowered any instinct towards telling the truth.
But there are some individuals with whom I sharply disagree but who also try to keep their claims this side of fraudulent. They may take positions that I find contrary to both Christian principle and American philosophy, but their words are not generally dishonest – or at least not blatantly so.
One such person is Albert Mohler, the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Mohler has also reviewed the story about the San Francisco children and found it disturbing. But Mohler’s distress is not based in bogus taxpayer bus expenses or in the pretense that the will of parents was disregarded. He does not rant about “exposed to the ceremony” or other misstatements of fact. Dr. Mohler has a broader concern.
Human society is a complex reality, but certain constants have framed that reality for human beings. One of those constants has been the institution of marriage. The respected status of the heterosexual pairing, set apart for exclusive rights and respected for its functions for the society, is among the most important of those constants. Even where deviations from this pattern occur, they are of interest merely for the fact that they are deviations from this norm.
The legalization and normalization of same-sex marriage undermine that constant. What had been a clear picture now becomes confusing. Marriage had been universally understood to be heterosexual. Now, it is something else. The picture is further confused by alienating the heterosexual breeding and parenting function from marriage. Not only does marriage appear now to be what it never was before, the essential functions of marriage are up for grabs.
The pictures in the mind change.
What Dr. Mohler rightly notes is that this battle is not truly over first grade field trips. It isn’t really over parental rights or churches being sued.
What the battle over the legal recognition of same-sex marriage is about is the cultural recognition of same-sex unions as part of the definition of marriage. It’s a reflection of a society that no longer views gay persons as objectionable or inferior and which no longer gives preference and privilege to the institution of heterosexuality.
Those of us who favor equality emphatically state that the State cannot treat citizens dissimilarity. And that marriage is a civil right which cannot be eliminated to meet the demands of some churches’ doctrines.
But although Mohler is talking about Proposition 8 and encouraging its passage, that isn’t really at the heart of his complaint. It isn’t so much that a state has allowed marriage as it is that a society has rejected his moral argument.
The battle over Proposition 8 is a struggle over some of the most fundamental principles of life, society, and meaning. In the eyes of same-sex marriage advocates the battle is for equality, dignity, and respect for homosexual relationships. In the eyes of same-sex marriage opponents, the battle is for the preservation of an institution essential for human happiness and thriving.
Both sides in this debate understand that issues right at the core of human dignity are at stake. Each side understands that the decision on this question will shape the future of our civilization.
And though Mohler writes his piece to rally the troops, I think he knows that even if he wins the battle that is this proposition, he has lost the war. Mohler knows that his church, and many others, have for years appealed to the people. They have preached sermons. They have staged rallies. They have knocked on doors and done good works and even reverted to cries of hellfire and damnation.
And society has listened to their “good news” and found it neither good nor news. Their appeal to tradition and a literal interpretation of Genesis, their insistence on sexual rules that seem to be based on nebulous morality rather than on pragmatic approaches to pregnancy, disease, and emotional health, their conflation of religion and partisan politics, and their efforts to control those around them have caused conservative evangelical Christians to become viewed with hostility and distrust.
If their brand of Christianity is to be relevant to the world around it, they need to find a message that most will find to be helpful and useful to their lives. Because today’s youth have access to more information and shared experiences than ever before, appeals to ignorance or baseless dogma will doom a church for future generations.
Insistence on anti-gay dogmatism in a culture that is coming to value and respect their gay neighbors may alienate an entire generation. And I find within Mohler’s writing a suggestion that he may on some level recognize that Southern Baptists run the risk that it may be too late.
As he noted:
It turns out that parents had the right to use an “opt out” provision to keep their children at the school, and not at the ceremony at City Hall. According to the paper, two families did just that. Two. Eighteen students participated in the field trip. This, you must understand, is the new normal.
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Scott
October 17th, 2008
I find it fascinating that Mohler is seeing that his side is losing the war. His prior writings still show considerable opposition.
See the link below.
http://www.albertmohler.com/documents/HomosexualityBible.pdf
Timothy Kincaid
October 17th, 2008
Scott,
You make a good point. I may have been underestimating Mohler’s hopefulness.
I weakened the statement “And I think that Mohler may recognize that Southern Baptists run the risk that it may be too late.” to read “And I find within Mohler’s writing a suggestion that he may on some level recognize that Southern Baptists run the risk that it may be too late.”
Pomo
October 17th, 2008
Excellent post Timothy!
Tavdy
October 17th, 2008
And though Mohler writes his piece to rally the troops, I think he knows that even if he wins the battle that is this proposition, he has lost the war. – Timothy Kinkaid
I posted the following on Pam’s House Blend however it seems equally appropriate here since it covers a lot of closely-related ground – especially the final paragraph, given latter section of Timothy Kincaid’s original blog entry.
” Unfortunately it makes perfect sense [for fundamentalists to bash LGBTs for playing around, then get all fired up about us having stable long-term relationships.] but only if you reject the idea that LGBT people are equal to cisgendered straights, and if you have the aim of killing that idea. If you prevent LGBT people from having access to marriage, and thereby deny us the kind of social and economic support that encourages stable long-term relationships, you can reduce our ability to form those relationships and so present us as being “incapable” of them.
The Religious Reich has invested a lot of time and money into the false image of the so-called “gay lifestyle” – a hogwash of drug addiction, sexual depravity, loneliness, depression, disease and death. Legalising gay marriage threatens that myth, and therefore their credibility – and the stronger they cling to the fantasy, the more their credibility is threatened by its destruction and the harder they will fight to protect discrimination – just like any cornered animal, it’s when they have nothing to lose that they’ll fight the hardest: just look at the adverts they have been running for proof of that.
And because it’s their public credibility that is at stake, the gay marriage issue is first and foremost a pride issue for them – yep, we’re talking the deadliest of the seven deadly sins here, and they’re in it up to their necks! They dread a future of no longer being the arbiters of social morality, the idea of being merely equals with everyone else, and the possibility of being publicly humbled by being proven wrong. After all, all fundamentalist religion – irrespective of the particular creed – is always based on the premise that “we’re right and everyone else is wrong”.
They’ve built their house upon the sand and now the sea is washing away the foundations. If California votes no on prop 8, the house itself will begin to crumble.”
Ben in Oakland
October 17th, 2008
mohler has made comments like this before. He at least recognizes that reality and his beliefs may not coincide– unlike so many of his ocmpatriots.
Joel
October 18th, 2008
Maybe he should add a parenthesis after “human happiness”. Something along th elines of… ‘human happinness(not so much for gays though)’.
“According to the paper, two families did just that. Two. Eighteen students participated in the field trip. This, you must understand, is the new normal.” Good News indeed.
Regan DuCasse
October 19th, 2008
I’d like to ask Mohler, what was the OLD normal?
And what good did it do anyone?
Tavdy
October 19th, 2008
Regan, do you mean the OLD normal where gays would be beaten unto a pulp, or lynched, or towed behind a truck by their genitals, or executed, or thrown in mental asylums or prison, or raped, or tortured, or…
Wait a moment, that’s what happens now.
Ephilei
October 20th, 2008
While I disagree with Dr Mohler’s heterosexism, I think he has a far wiser opinion than heterosexism at large and perhaps the only valid point against same sex marriage – the loss of simplicity. Many will suffer as the world becomes increasingly complex, not just in marriage but in every aspect, because they just want someone telling them how to live. I, however, believe that God loves complexity. If not, the world would not be created so diversely.
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