While walking around downtown Sacramento with my parents last weekend we observed a large group of people protesting the recent passage of Proposition 8. In a nutshell, prop 8 amended the California constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, thereby reversing an earlier supreme court decision to allow same-sex marriages. The proposition passed by less than 5 percentage points leading many to believe the evangelical Christian vote (both black and white in this case) was responsible for this change to the state constitution. One example: mega church pastor Rick Warren is on the record telling his congregation they “need to support Proposition 8.”
In addition to the public protests that have followed Prop 8’s passage, the New York Times reports that specific churches and Mormon temples have been protested for their public support of the measure.
A large protest against the measure, Proposition 8, at the Mormon Temple in Oakland led the California Highway Patrol to close two nearby highway ramps. A patrol dispatcher said the ramps had been closed to protect pedestrians from traffic… In Orange County, about 1,000 advocates of equal rights for gay people fanned out along sidewalks leading to Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest. They were angered by the church’s support of Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that voters approved Tuesday.
Less predictable than the protests have been the individuals and companies who have been publicly identified for their financial support of Prop 8. Lists of companies that backed the proposition can easily be found on-line, making it easier to boycott or support them depending on your political disposition.
The public Evangelical response to Prop 8’s passage has been predictable. Focus on the Family praised the election results claiming that it, “helps protect millions of children from radical indoctrination in the homosexual lifestyle.”
What do you make of this?
Yesterday author and producer John Marks posted a very direct challenge to Christians’ support of Proposition 8. Marks is an atheist who, along with seminary professor Craig Detweiler, directed the documentary A Purple State of Mind (which I’ve mentioned before). In his post on the film’s blog Marks asks,
Where were your people, Craig? Shouldn’t progressive Christians and not gays have been the ones to demonstrate? Shouldn’t Christians appalled and outraged by the hypocrisy of their fellow, sexually conflicted Christians been the ones to protest congregations who whined about being persecuted while persecuting their neighbors and fellow citizens at the ballot box? Or is it better to just shake your head and bemoan the general deterioration of dialogue? Hasn’t that posture become a disgrace yet? A way of supporting the conservatives while appearing to deplore them?
I’m genuinely interested in what this blog’s readers think about the passage of Proposition 8. Frankly, I’m somewhat confused by the whole thing. On one hand I understand why many American Christians celebrated this constitutional amendment. There is a general sense among many that one of our primary roles as Christians in this country is to pass legislation that reflect and honor God’s principles. Laws that seem to contradict these principles, according to this view, should be opposed and overturned. The long and bitter history of Roe v. Wade is a prime example of how this plays out. To be overly simplistic, churches and individual Christians engage in these cultural battles in order to hold America to its Christian heritage; a heritage which many believe has been blessed by God in unique ways. Towards the end of A Purple State of Mind Detweiler points out that many of these Christians have felt under attack for many years by a culture that seems increasingly secular and pluralistic. For a culturally besieged people, a victory like Prop 8 is worthy of celebration.
But what if a Christian understanding of God’s work in the world is not tied to the fate of our nation? Assuming America is no more or less intrinsically christian than any other nation, why the emphasis on legislating our brand of morality? To over-simplify again, it seems to me that our enegry as Christians is best spent on proclaiming the Kingdom of God and embodying its ethic. The Christian persona is already a list of traits (judgemental, hypocritical, and anti-homosexual among others) that is best labled “unChristian”. It seems this latest round PR will only add to these perceptions.
I’ve been trying to understand what the American church would have lost had same-sex marriage in California been allowed to proceed. I’m not worried about the “radical indoctrination in the homosexual lifestyle” that concerns some folks. While I don’t want churches to be forced to preform same-sex ceremonies against their will, this doesn’t seem to be a realistic concern. What is the real issue here? Is it possible for Christians who disagree with same-sex marriage from a theological perspective to retain their convitions while also supporting the will of their co-citizens who don’t share their beliefs? Is it right to expect that the ethics within our churches should also be the exact ethics of our very diverse nation? Is it possible for a Christian to support equality for all citizens while still maintaining distinctly Christian beliefs and behaviors?
I realize the many simplifications and generalizations that have been made in this post. Even so, I’d like to hear your (charitable) perspective on this. How do you think about the intersection of Christain faith and our American citizenship? What might a Christian response to Proposition 8 look like?
David W. Swanson 
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