scottsimpson.net

Render Unto Caesar

So much has been made lately of the debate over Prop 8 -- if it doesn't pass, you children will be forced to marry someone of the same gender, and so will you! If it doesn't pass, kindergarten teachers will be required by law to hand out condoms to their classes, and pre-existing marriages will all be annulled. Oh wait, that's not right. If Prop 8 passes, all that will have been accomplished will be a limitation on religious and civil rights.

And if it doesn't pass? Everything will be the same as it is now.

I can tell you, right now it's crazy out there. All those gays are assaulting people and forcing them into marriages, burning down churches, and abducting children. They're getting married to scam the insurance system, tear apart straight couples, and spit in the eye of god.

Aren't they?

There are churches that accept gay couples? Surely not! Has anyone told them that if Prop 8 passes, their beliefs will be not just a minority, but illegal? Oh wait. ("This will set bad precedent for the future when those whose rights we deny today are needed to defend our religious liberty.")

I seem to recall something in that book the Christians seem to like so much about “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (“Ἀπόδοτε οὖν τὰ Καίσαρος Καίσαρι καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ Θεῷ”) (Matthew 22:21). Legal rights and responsibilities are clearly of "Caesar", and whatever religious rite you practice in your faith community is clearly of "god".

Now, my position is that the state should not endow any marriage or religious union with legal rights and responsibilities, any more than a church should be forced to recognize within their rites the legal union of people with whom they disagree. For a gay or lesbian couple to walk into a Mormon church and demand that they be able to participate in the Mormon wedding ritual would be ludicrous -- equally as ludicrous as a couple married in a religious ceremony to walk up to a Justice of the Peace and demand that they hold certain legal rights and responsibilities simply because a group of people in a building and their imaginary friend say they're 'married'.

As a thing of god, 'marriage' should not be legislated by 'Caesar' and any Christian who has opened a Bible should recognize this. Unless you're a Christian who is trying to force your religion on others. And as I recall, there's a couple things about that in the Bible as well.

Add to this that there were recently Christians worshipping a golden calf and it's pretty safe to say that so many of these in-your-face Christo-fascists (help me spread the term!) really have no idea what their religion is actually about. Folks, if you're going to do anything, at least do it right.

Love Poem.