I was recently asked to provide a guest post at “There is Power in the Blog,” associated with the Political Theology journal. I wanted to take some time to reflect on the cultural changes that yesterday’s decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court reflect, and to make my own modest proposals for ways forward amidst the ongoing theological and political divides within the church and U.S. society. Here is a link to the full article, and here is a spinet:
If I were to offer my opinion with regard to the best way for theologians and church leaders to move forward following today’s rulings, it would be to reassess our rhetoric. For those opposed to civil recognition of same-sex marriage, the argument that allowing same-sex marriage will have a negative impact upon the common good of society has been found unconvincing, not least because there is little tangible evidence to back it up. And there is no logical step from a theological argument based on Genesis 1 to inscribing “one man, one woman” into civil law. For those of us who support the extension of greater legal protections and rights to same-sex couples, we need to refrain from gloating and find ways to remain united as a church with a common goal of spreading the Gospel even amidst vehement disagreement.
Thomas,
Thanks for your post. I wanted to reaffirm your opinion that those of us who support marriage equality and are also members of the Roman Catholic community need to walk a fine line of encouraging what we feel t be right in the public sphere and also our Church communities, while remaining respectful and even forgiving of those who disagree with us.
With the progress on marriage equality, which will no doubt result in the eventual legalization of gay marriage in all the states, and a lack of any sociological evidence that this will be damaging to either the lives of the gay community eor their children, we need to reevaluate our Church’s political actions and speak up if necessary to influence them. Our current strategy reminds me of Iago’s speech about reputation in Othello( Othello 3:3 160-168)
Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash. ‘Tis something, nothing:
‘Twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands.
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him
And makes me poor indeed
The desire to marry our loved one is one of the jewels of our souls and denying it to the gay community does not enrich us, but harms them.
Our challenges are going to be to repair our stressed relationships with the community at large, who mistakenly equate us with the many less compassionate and thoughtful groups who also oppose same sex marriage and to ecourage Catholics to proclaim the dignity of the human person and the Gospel values you discussed, without fear of reprisal from their own church.
Thomas,
In response to your “Power in the Blog” post, Catholic Social Teaching has long held that the state has a Social Justice obligation to protect and uphold heterosexual marriage, because of it’s importance in the procreation and raising of children.
God Bless