MY NEW HERO
Adam Phillips
“With its historic ruling on Marriage Equality Friday,” writes Adam Phillips, pastor at Christ Church: Portland, “the U.S. Supreme Court finally caught up to the movement of the Holy Spirit. That’s right. I said it.”…. “I am an evangelical Christian pastor (and proud of it),” Phillips continues, “and I believe that the freedom bell of love and justice just pealed a little louder and the arc of history is bent a little closer to justice.”…. Phillips specifically calls our Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, Christian presidential candidates who vocally oppose marriage rights for couples of the same gender…. “They’re dead wrong about the Bible and about their commitment to Marriage Exclusion,” Phillips argues. “Too often, religious conservatives will claim that marriage equality not only redefines holy matrimony, but is against biblical marriage. But the Bible has curiously malleable, sometimes contradictory, dramatically heterodox definitions of marriage.”…. The pastor goes on to cite numerous examples of biblically-endorsed marriage arrangements that do not consist of a monogamous, heterosexual couple committed in a union recognized by God.
Finally…the sound of reasonable, intellectually and theologically honest Christians voicing their conviction that Bible-thumping members of the American Taliban and their unnatural devotion to “traditional marriage” is…well, just plain un-Christian and flat-out wrong. It doesn’t take a Biblical scholar to recognize that what Phillips rightly calls “marriage exclusion” is not even remotely in line with the teachings of Jesus Christ (I don’t even believe in God and I know that).
Religious conservatives, Bible-thumpers, American Taliban- whatever appellation one might attach to them, the fact is that those who believe the Supreme Court decision legalizing marriage equality “redefines” marriage really need to spend more time actually reading their Bibles. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with Scripture understands the “curiously malleable, sometimes contradictory, dramatically heterodox definitions of marriage.” There IS no consistent definition of “traditional marriage”…unless by traditional you mean “in line with my own prejudice, fear, and homophobia.” There’s no Biblical injunction against marriage equality. God doesn’t frown upon respecting the rights of others to live and love as they choose.
What Phillips explains about Christianity shouldn’t seem radical, in that he’s merely talking about a version of Christianity that actually follows the teachings of Jesus Christ. It’s not surprising that many of those virulently opposed to marriage equality use their Christianity to justify their opposition. Though Jesus preached love, tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion, the same justification was used to opposed interracial marriage half a century ago.
“The light shines a little brighter and the winds of change feel like a cool breeze on a sweltering summer day,” Phillips writes. “While many religious leaders, politicians and institutions collectively echo Chicken Little, so many more of us - the ostracized and vilified, marginalized and abandoned because of our prayerful hope that love does, actually, win - are breathing deeper and lifting a toast to God.”
“As Justice Kennedy wrote in his opinion accompanying the decision,” Phillips continues, “‘No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.’ Sounds strangely like the words of Jesus, who taught us that “love is the higher law.”
The Supreme Court didn’t “redefine” marriage, because the Bible never identifies The One And Only True Flavor of Marriage ©. Nowhere will you find one consistent definition of marriage, and in fact there are many widely differing and seriously inconsistent versions to be found throughout the Bible. What those definitions actually mean is something I’m not particularly interested in; theological debates aren’t my thing. What should be clear to anyone who knows anything at all about the Bible is that nowhere to be found is one “official,” consistent definition of the institution of marriage. What the American Taliban uses as their definition of “tradition marriage” is one part Scripture and four parts prejudice and homophobia. They can’t quote Jesus preaching against marriage equality…because He never did.
If socially conservative Christians choose to oppose marriage equality, that’s their right in a free society. What they don’t get is a free pass to use their religious faith as cover for their hatred and homophobia. Nor do they get to assume their self-perceived moral/theological superiority provides them with carte blanche to make their moral code the law of the land. Their God doesn’t get to be everyone’s government.
I’ve complained a lot in the past about the silent majority of good and decent Christians who allow zealots, homophobes, and theocrats to set the debate, so I feel honor-bound to acknowledge when someone stands up to the bullies. Phillips doesn’t engage in recriminations or name-calling, which seems to be the calling card of the American Taliban. He simply lays out an argument explaining why the opposition to marriage equality is disingenuous and just plain wrong.
Fifty years from now, I suspect Phillips’ view will prevail among Christians, and the era of hatred and homophobia will be viewed with some embarrassment.
Love won…and it will continue to win. Socially conservative Christians can continue to whine and claim persecution…or they can get on board with what their Savior actually taught…because the rest of us are going to continue moving forward.
