Editor's Note: So we have a guest post from a new blog called Thoughts and Prayers in Motion. And from the two posts so far, it's definitely worth keeping in view. Not too preachy but forceful enough to make you stop and think. while it’s definitely not an establishment voice, the blog clearly has a constructive agenda and isn’t just another collection of bitter rants.” Anywho, enjoy the blog's latest post below:
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PART ONE
In response to the recent
incarceration of a Kentucky county clerk for refusing to perform her
duties, certifying marriages for all Rowan County couples, the
General Superintendent of the United Pentecostal Church
International, David K. Bernard, posted
some of his thoughts on Facebook.
Near the beginning of the post, Bernard writes, “As Christians, we
can agree on the following points…”
While it is tempting to jump straight
to a discussion of the
following points, it is
Bernard’s deftly phrased opening, “As Christians, we can agree”
to which we must be most attentive. Who are these Christians
or this we?
Surely not all
Christians, as it is quite clear that Christians in general rarely
speak with a unified voice on anything, marriage equality definitely
not one of those rare issues. Perhaps Bernard means Apostolics
or Oneness
Pentecostals
or even United
Pentecostals
when he says we?
Even so, such a statement would still be less than accurate, as
dissenting views on marriage equality exist in all three of the
aforementioned more narrow possibilities. This deceptively benign
opening, “As Christians, we can agree” warrants our close
attention, because it is a foundational prop in what can only be
called a phantasmagorical production. A feverish bit of theater, in
which we are confronted by the spectacle of a weeping woman, who
having been maliciously persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
nevertheless stands firm for Jesus. This carefully choreographed
pageantry seeks to stoke the fear of an imminent loss of Christian
freedoms, all the while
ignoring the abdication of Christian
values taking place in the
humiliation, suffering and indignity inflicted upon hapless couples
who had the audacity to seek equal treatment under the law.
This foundational prop of which I
speak, is the carefully cultivated fiction — a fiction many
Christian leaders (including Oneness
Pentecostal and Apostolic
elites) are desperately trying maintain — that frames the struggle
for marriage equality as an external attack upon Christian faith by
an assortment of worldly forces. That marriage equality is an
internal issue of Christian debate/dissent (no matter how narrowly
one draws the circle) is something that cannot be acknowledged by the
reigning powers. Christians however, even Apostolic Christians, have
never been a monolithic group, and framing marriage equality as an
issue in which Christians are pitted against non-Christians
(non-Christians we should add, who seek to undermine Christian
freedoms) is disingenuous. Such a framing is vulgar propaganda that
only feeds a false persecution complex currently in vogue among many
conservative American Christians.
The truth is this: the
gays are not out there
waging war against all things Christian. Let us be clear. In their
fight against marriage equality, church leaders and those who follow
them, are not holding the line against an onslaught by godless
heathens, but are instead committing the sin of Cain. Let us name
this they
whom we are told to resist. They are our brothers and sisters, our
mothers and fathers, our sons and daughters, our musicians,
educators, pastors, worship leaders, janitors, ushers and elders —
they
are faithful children of God. That it may genuinely surprise many to
learn that nearly
half of lesbian, gay or bisexual Americans identify as Christian
(and that percentage is increasing) is just more evidence of how
successful establishment propaganda has been.
Here is an uncomfortable truth.
Whatever religious persecution of Christians is taking place in this
country; it is all too often taking place at the hands of other
Christians. As a little
publicized victory by
a coalition of clergy, same-sex couples and religious denominations
late last year demonstrated, in denying LGBT Christians marriage
equality, North Carolina's marriage laws violated the First Amendment
rights of Christian clergy and the principle of "free exercise
of religion.” While the recently incarcerated Kentucky county clerk
does offer us an opportunity to confront religious persecution in
America, it is not the example of persecution her supporters imagine.
The persecution, to which she calls our attention, is one that seeks
(among other things, namely the imposition of one’s own religious
beliefs upon non-believers) to deny LGBT Christians and the Christian
communities to which they belong, the freedom to exercise their
constitutional right to the free expression of their religion. It is
imperative that we see beyond the actors on the stage in order to
unmask this tragic reality that both the victims and the perpetrators
in this story are Christians.
While Bernard’s post appears to be a genuine attempt at finding some balance between secular authority and personal conscience, sadly, he doesn’t seem to appreciate the irony involved in citing Romans 14 to conclude a reflection in which he has attempted to impose a tendentious reading of scripture upon all Christians. In 1 Corinthians 7, Saint Paul acknowledges that even for faithful Christians, marriage is a complicated subject and that we should resist any attempt at homogenizing believers. May we hear afresh Saint Paul’s words that every one must be free to faithfully live the life to which God has called them, not forced into a life that other Christians may seek to impose upon them. A candid discussion about marriage equality might begin, “as Christians, we do not agree.”