Philocrites

Meet the authors of 'The Christian case for gay marriage.'

by Philocrites

The Boston Globe Ideas section interviews David G. Myers, professor of psychology at a Christian liberal arts college in Michigan, and Letha Dawson Scanzoni, a Christian writer in Virginia, about their new book, What God Has Joined Together? A Christian Case for Gay Marriage:

IDEAS: Doesn't the Bible describe homosexuality as an abomination?

MYERS: The concept of homosexuality, as a naturally disposed orientation, isn't mentioned in the Bible. Nor does Scripture say anything about committed same-sex relationships.

IDEAS: But isn't the destruction of Sodom in Genesis 19, after the men of Sodom demand that Lot hand over his male visitors so that they might "know" them, often cited as God's judgment upon homosexuality?

SCANZONI: God's judgment was upon the lack of hospitality and attempted sexual humiliation of the visitors through gang rape. The judgment was not about the love of two homosexual persons for each other. Ezekiel 16 says, "Sodom's sins were pride, laziness, and gluttony, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door."

IDEAS: What about the passages in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and First and Second Kings that condemn sodomites or Paul's epistles condemning those men he describes as "abusers of themselves with mankind"?

SCANZONI: Jewish and Christian scholars agree that the word sodomite doesn't appear in the original language. A Hebrew word for leaders in idolatrous rituals was mistranslated as sodomite in some older English Bible versions. The passages from the epistles refer to exploitative male prostitution practices in St. Paul's time. They don't apply to same-sex marriage any more than admonitions against heterosexual prostitution apply to heterosexual marriage.

IDEAS: Why should Christians endorse extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians?

MYERS: First, because most Christians are eager to see families strengthened and marriage supported. Second, because we're followers of Jesus, who said a great deal about loving our neighbor, avoiding judgmentalism, and supporting those who are hurting and regarded as outcasts. We view the Bible as Good News, not Bad News, for gays as well as straight people.

There you have it! ("Sins of Sodom?", Joshua Glenn, Boston Globe 6.5.05, reg req'd)

Copyright © 2005 by Philocrites | Posted 5 June 2005 at 10:25 PM

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