Properly Framing the Gay Argument Pt.3

This is the last installment in the Properly Framing the Gay Argument series. Recently the North Carolina General Assembly approved a constitutional referendum to place a ban on same sex marriage in the NC Constitution. Voters will decide in May 2012. This is the Pandora’s Box I spoke of previously. If the voters come out overwhelmingly against, will the churches agree with the decision of the citizens? While it uphold the Constitution in this case and people's right to gather and practice peaceful civil disobedience.
The question I proposed, if we already have a ban on gay marriage, why waste tax payer dollars on something that is only going to fan more flames of dissent?  If the ban gets approved it will make it harder to overturn in the future. What was a non-issue will now become an issue.
This goes beyond a simple disagreement and becomes personal. It becomes, of all things, political. That in and of itself is dangerous as you begin crossing the church and state lines.

Properly framing the Gay Argument pt.1

The subject of one’s sexuality continues to come up. As the sun is scorching the United States so is the topic of homosexuality. The problem I have is how the argument is being framed. Should gays have equal rights? Are they born this way or is it a choice? As I mentioned before the framing of the issue has been wrong. The argument generally falls between two camps: for or against. Those for believe the Constitution answers the question. Those against believe the Bible is the answer. So, what is the answer? Well both, kind of.

Let’s deal with the Bible and the religious side first. I would like to add something first, people hold and have the right to agree as well as disagree. This is what adds to the framework of the argument. We all need to learn to disagree agreeably or agreeably disagree. No one opinion is absolute.

Let’s get back to the religious aspect. The Bible is written for all those that will hear. People have the right to follow its teachings or not. I want to deal with three very specific scriptures that people point to in opposition to homosexuality. The first is Romans 1. It’s important to read the entire book of Romans but for time constraints we will begin with verses 21-32.