KARRIS GOLDEN, For The Courier | Posted: Friday, April 24, 2009 12:00 am
Licenses for gay marriages will be available in Iowa starting Monday, April 27.
The Associated Press reported earlier this month that the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower-court ruling rejecting a state law restricting marriage to a union between a man and woman. Now opponents will have to wait until 2012 to fight it with a constitutional amendment.
I don't understand the vitriol against gay marriage. Marriage doesn't have anything to do with religious beliefs unless a couple wants theirs to.
As a result, gay marriage has nothing to do with Bible verses, who you welcome to your churches or what your personal beliefs are. Likewise, this isn't about what the "founding fathers" believed about homosexuality and its religious ramifications.
Besides, Christians have "reinterpreted" certain biblical mandates, and we've already reached the mind-blowing conclusion that the founding fathers weren't always right.
Uniform application of rights is basic; the United States professes to treat everyone equally, regardless of their religious beliefs. This also means we have a duty to refrain from forcing our beliefs on others. Gay and lesbian couples should be able to marry on principle.
Marriage is a legal contract. Before today, a man and a woman would go to any county courthouse in Iowa to apply for a marriage license. They paid the fee and promised they're at least 18, not cousins and not married to someone else. No one asked if they've had premarital counseling with a minister or if they planned to have a church wedding.
Where's the sanctity in that?
Some heterosexuals seal the deal in churches, but we don't have to. It appears it's OK for heterosexuals to marry without the trappings of faith. How then can we apply Christian standards about marriage to gay couples?
Gay marriage doesn't threaten the sanctity of marriage or weaken the family. A marriage - Christian or otherwise - should be built on a strong foundation that can weather real or perceived threats. That's the couple's responsibility.
If there is a threat to marriage, it's divorce. It's relatively easy to resolve marital disputes this way, and there is a lot of societal pressure to do so.
A well-known and often-quoted statistic is that more than 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce. Who's out in the street protesting that? Doesn't such rampant disregard for Scripture deserve rallies and vehement invectives?
I'm kidding, but only a little; I don't see why gay marriage is a home-wrecker that must be stopped when divorce is not. If the anti-gay marriage camp put half as much energy toward helping heterosexuals build solid marriages, I'd believe they were truly interested in the integrity of marriage. Maybe divorcees are too big a group to take on with name-calling, placards and bullhorns.
Golden writes the Courier's weekly faith column. E-mail her at onfaith@karrisgolden.com.