Faith leaders who opposed the decision anticipated societal decay, lawsuits against churches and a growing inability to live according to their beliefs. Houses of worship are still allowed to refuse to host same-sex weddings and pastors retain the right to condemn the push to expand LGBTQ rights in the public square.
However, pastors were right to predict a surge in lawsuits. Friction between LGBTQ rights and religious freedom protections has certainly increased since and the question of how to balance the two has been addressed multiple times in Congress and before the Supreme Court. The latest research on religion and LGBTQ rights shows that, in the aftermath of same-sex marriage legalization, many people of faith have grown more interested in finding a way to protect both gay couples and religious communities.
Like Americans in general, people of faith have grown more supportive of same-sex marriage since Additionally, surveys taken over a longer time period show that people of faith are more likely today than in the past to believe their church thinks homosexual activity is OK. Djupe, a political scientist based at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. Djupe observed similar shifts among Catholics, Black Protestants and other people of faith.
The biggest developments involved condemnations of homosexual behavior, Djupe said. Djupe offers some data to back up this claim in a piece that will be published as part of a forthcoming book from the University of Michigan.
The ritual for same-sex couples will not be mandatory. Each Episcopal bishop will decide whether to allow churches in his or her jurisdiction to use the new liturgy to bless same-sex unions. And in those dioceses where blessing same-sex relationships is permissible, no Episcopal priest will be required to perform the blessing ceremony. The Episcopal Church has been moving toward recognition of same-sex marriage for some time.
At the same assembly, the church also adopted a social statement on human sexuality that supports a wide variety of families, including those headed by same-gender couples.
There is no official Hindu position on same-sex marriage. Some Hindus condemn the practice of homosexuality, but others cite ancient Hindu texts, such as the Kama Sutra, that seem to condone homosexual behavior. Islamic law forbids homosexuality, and the practice of homosexuality is a crime in many Islamic countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Reform and Reconstructionist Jewish movements have supported gay and lesbian rights, including same-sex marriage, since the mids.
In June , the Conservative Jewish movement approved a ceremony to allow same-sex couples to marry. The Supreme Court ruling earlier this year legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide has continued to raise questions about how the decision will affect religious groups — especially those that remain opposed to allowing gay and lesbian couples to wed.
Many of the largest U. At the same time, in the past two decades, several other religious groups also have moved to allow same-sex couples to marry within their traditions. Another mainline Protestant denomination, the Presbyterian Church U. Among the four largest mainline Protestant churches , the same-sex marriage debate has not been simple.
And the debate within the Presbyterian Church has already led some congregations to break away and join other, more conservative Presbyterian denominations. Both denominations allow clergy to opt out of performing same-sex marriages, while the ELCA allows ministers and their congregations to determine their own policies.
In this light, the Bible is often seen as the primary source that helps us figure out how the people of God should live. Rather, most Christians make these difficult determinations by studying what the whole of Scripture says regarding a specific topic, exploring the linguistic, historical and cultural context within which the words were written, and then putting these discoveries in conversation with what we know to be true of the character of God more broadly.
Whenever any person opens the Bible, they begin a process of interpretation. But, the question is begged, is this a fair and accurate assessment? Are there such things as neutral interpretations? Is there one true or correct way to interpret the Bible, and if so, who determines that? The study of biblical interpretation is called hermeneutics, and helps us to address these kinds of questions.
More specifically, we are seeking to determine if the biblical writers were condemning specific practices related to sexuality in the ancient world, or were they indeed condemning all same-sex relationships of any kind for the rest of time? While gender complimentarity is indeed rooted in passages from Genesis 1 and 2, it is worth noting that these stories say God began by creating human beings of male and female sex defined as the complex result of combinations between chromosomes, gonads, genes, and genitals but there is nothing that indicates in Scripture that God only created this binary.
This account says little to nothing about gender, the social and cultural norms and practices corresponding to what is considered masculine and feminine. Two dimensions of the text that become important in considering the biblical affirmation of intersex, transgender, non-binary, and other gender diverse people, discussed at more length here.
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