Anyone who thinks that a President's simple statements on social issues doesn't have a significant effect isn't paying attention.
After both Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan pushed for acceptance of same-sex marriage Sunday (May 6), North Carolina reversed the trend and became the 30th state to amend its constitution to define marriage as an act between one man and one woman.
Now President Barack Obama has affirmed his support of same-sex marriage. The president's statements should come as no surprise.
His refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act and his comments about "evolving" on the issue both pointed toward this event. I Tweeted recently that I expected such a move from the president. The only remote surprise is the timing of his announcement. I, like many others, expected this announcement after he had won a second term in November. This announcement accelerated the timeline of an inevitable conversation.
"The presidential election will tell if Americans view support for gay marriage as a political sin but the vote is in on whether it is theologically sinful -- and it's a close call" writes Cathy Lynn Grossman of USAToday on the heels of President Obama announcing he is now in favor of same-sex marriage. Grossman's article highlights LifeWay Research's release of a new study showing American adults are split on whether or not homosexuality is a sin.
The random-sample survey of more than 2,000 Americans asked "Do you believe homosexual behavior is a sin?" Forty-four percent said yes and 43 percent said no. Thirteen percent were not sure.
These results are not too surprising based on other recent polling data. In Gallup's 2011 Values and Beliefs poll, they reported 56 percent of Americans consider gay and lesbian relations morally acceptable.
The issue is not going away, and you cannot ignore it or seek to downplay your views. Christians have always believed and taught that God's standard and intent is a man, a woman, a marriage and a lifetime. To us, that just makes sense, but to an increasing number in our culture, this is simply discrimination. President Obama clearly justifies his reason for supporting gay marriage because of the Golden Rule -- the idea that we should treat others justly, as we would want to be treated.
Others are saying that building bridges and showing grace and love is needed and essential when dealing with people with different views and values.
There are those Christians who are more concerned that they take every opportunity to clearly condemn homosexuality. Others are saying that building bridges and showing grace and love is needed and essential when dealing with people with different views and values.
We can, and indeed we should, show some grace to those who struggle while believing what the Scriptures clearly teach.
At the end of the day, we will continue to be pressured to accept a worldview rooted in cultural acceptance rather than biblical revelation. While President Obama's thoughts on certain issues may evolve, the biblical teaching has not. We can listen to Dan Savage and decide to "ignore" the Bible's teachings on homosexuality, or we can live with the fact of what the Bible teaches and recognize that, because of such, our reputations will suffer.
Obama, after the interview with ABC he call his pastor. The pastor explained that, from his church’s perspective, even a symbolic gesture by the president (Obama made clear he was not pursuing a policy shift and was expressing personal views) could foreshadow future laws that could force religious institutions’ hands.
His fears were not soothed by assurances from Obama and the White House that the president’s view would have no bearing on churches or religious groups. Obama said that these organizations should make their own decisions on whether to marry same-sex couples.
In their conversation, Hunter said Obama referred to his belief in “civil marriage” for gays and lesbians, drawing a distinction between relationships sanctioned by the government and those by churches.“If there is a law that you cannot discriminate between same-sex couples and heterosexual couples, then, eventually, there will be pressure on the church to obey the law,” Hunter said. “And there will be lawsuits that come testing this thing, and we just know that we will certainly be pressured to conform to the law.”
Hunter continued: “As we see this possibly getting written into the Democratic Party platform, we look down the road. And the conversation I hear among religious leaders is that when you have this kind of powerful voice in the government and even an entire party talking about marriage non-discrimination, then there will be laws put in place somewhere down the line.”
Such comments from Hunter underscore the political dangers and tension points for, not only for Obama, but Christians and the Church of Jesus Christ in the months ahead.
But, we, the Christians, do know what the ultimate outcome is, don’t we?
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