politics in church
I have been thinking about what Kat said over at NIT yesterday about both the Vote No on 1 and James Dobson events being at churches. If I understand correctly, I think the main argument was for separation of church and state. Which I vehemently agree with. I have spent many hours since yesterday thinking about* the issue, and here’s what I came up with:
It is a religious issue. The major arguments against gay marriage (or for defining marriage as between a man and a woman) are religious arguments. How do we fight on our side without entering the religious arena? I personally don’t see marriage as a religious institution, but many do. Even had our event not been on church property, it would have been a religious event. Religious faith leaders would have spoken, and they would have spoken as religious faith leaders. And, even as a non-Christian, it was extremely important for me to hear Christian ministers and pastors from different denominations saying “No, we do not support this amendment. No, not all Christians hate you.”
I wonder if it is ok or not for churches to endorse a political issue. Everything Guy made the point to me today that “separation of church and state” is to protect the people and political mechanisms, not to protect the churches. Churches must stay out of politics, but the law does not say anything about the converse. So is it bad for your church to tell you how to vote? Especially if the issue at hand is one that reeks of moral judgements? My gut instinct is to say hell yeah it’s bad, but I can’t say why. If I am to accord respect to my fellow citizens, then I have to assume they are smart enough to make their own decisions, and if their church endorses something they still have the freedom to disagree. But I suppose I just don’t trust my fellow citizens enough. Or I’ve grown to fear the power of religion.
I haven’t come to any conclusions. I still don’t know how appropriate or not it was for Vote No to have their event at that church. What I do know is that I want say that appropriate doesn’t even seem to be an issue at this point, and that appropriate won’t win our fight. I want to say that politics isn’t appropriate, and neither is the government making rulings on marriage. I want to say that appropriate stopped having meaning a long time ago for me when I understood that a majority of voting American citizens believe that my sexual preference is wrong, or unnatural, or a disease, and that it’s their business in the first place.
I guess I’ve stopped writing from my head and am now just pissy, so I’m done.
*And by “thinking about” I might mean rationalizing, but you make the call