A Christian Case for Gay Marriage?

Proposition 8, is a proposed amendment to the Californian constitution to safeguard traditional marriage between opposite sexes. Tuesday California will vote over this proposition, with - predictably - many church goers voting against the possiblity of gay marriage. But is there a Christian argument to vote against Proposition 8, in favor of gay marriage?

Suppose that homosexuality is an aberration, a sin - which I personally disagree to; there is still a case for voting in favour of gay marriage and against proposition 8. One of the much used arguments by church goers against homosexuality is that it is unnatural and the unnatural state of homosexuality causes (even more) sin. To back up the argument, they refer to to research showing that gay relations are more promiscuous and last shorter. However, with many of these studies, case selections are flawed, because married heterosexual couples are compared with unmarried homosexual couples. If corrected for this selection bias, there may be no significant differences between homosexual and heterosexual relations. In fact, more recent scientific studies* suggest that marriage, as a mutual vow of commitment, is an important factor impacting on the duration of relations. In spite of high divorce rates, marital relations still last longer than non-marital relations. Moreover, there's no doubt that durable and exclusive homosexual relations exist in the real world, even when it is considered 'impossible' by some narrow theological standards.

Rather than judging negatively against gay marriage, an alternative and still very Christian stand is support of the institution of marriage as it impacts positively on the exclusiveness and the duration of relationships, whether homosexual or heterosexual.

But let me just add another case for gay marriage. The institution of marriage, although called traditional, is not primordial (settled before times), rather the institution of marriage is culturally shaped. Read in the Bible, and you’ll see an interesting overview of historical interpretations of marriage. While most Christians nowadays would argue against polygamy, in fact polygamy was a common practice throughout the Old Testament times, and even in New Testament Times Paul merely deems marital monogamy better than polygamy. Or consider the form of marriage, in Exodus a groom and bride spend a short time in a tent with their respective families gathered around the tent; that’s quite a far image from what we understand by marriage now. Considering, the change in form and substance of marriage, what would argue against gay marriage today? Well, even if one would thing homosexuality is sin, I think there’s still a case to vote in favor of gay marriage.

* Blumstein, P., & Schwartz, P. (1990). "Intimate relationships and the creation of sexuality" (pp. 307-320). In Sanders, S., & Reinisch, J. M. (Eds.), Homosexuality/ Heterosexuality: Concepts of Sexual Orientation. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

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