On Michael Paulson’s Articles of Faith Blog, San Francisco’s Archbishop George H. Niederauer’s defense of California’s Proposition 8, outlawing same-sex marriage is paired with its backlash. The only problem is that the video “Proposition 8: the musical” starring Jack Black as Jesus and an assortment of other celebs, has been yanked by Funny or Die from YouTube. Sorry.
Anyway, Archbishop Niederauer has lots to say, excerpted here:
Some voices in the wider community declare that there could be only one motive: hatred, prejudice and bigotry against gays, along with a determination to discriminate against them and deny them their civil rights. That is not so. The churches that worked in favor of Proposition 8 did so because of their belief that the traditional understanding and definition of marriage is in need of defense and support, and not in need of being re-designed or re-configured.
And yet the very churches that worked in favor of Prop. 8, have redesigned and reconfigured their traditions quite a lot, over the years. For example, neither Catholics nor Mormons sell their daughters into slavery any more, as scripture permits. At least I’m not familiar with this practice going on very often in my community. The Archbishop goes on:
For our part, we churchgoers need to speak and act out of the truth that all people are GodÂ’s children and are unconditionally loved by God. While we argue among ourselves, the people who need our help with hunger, unemployment, homelessness and other problems wait for us to turn together toward them.
Is he including the world’s gay and lesbian population here, or is his an articulation of partial inclusion?
To be fair, where does the Buddhist tradition land on this issue? In my last read, the Tripitaka seems to rule against monk-on-monk expressions of love, but what about consenting adults among the laity?
Again, here’s a specific point where tradition can evolve into something that reflects compassion more comprehensively, in ways that might negate traditional attachment but could very well enhance the meaning of one’s faith in the same move.
(Bows, Michael)