REPLIES TO PAUL VARNELL'S "A THEOLOGY FOR GAY MARRIAGE": Various

Derek Santos: ...If, perhaps, the posited theology came with stipulations, or rules, or boundaries, wherein certain types of relationships were acceptable while others were not, then other religious people may be more willing to consider our offered theology. But gays, for good or for ill, are generally not in the business of labeling and condemning certain types of behavior, let alone certain types of relationships.

As a result, all that other religious people see in our offered theology is a carte-blanche acceptance of homosexuality qua homosexuality. Not even heterosexuality has such a stamp of approval among religious people; it comes with numerous stipulations that must first be met in order to render the resulting relationship acceptable. What, after all, does gay theology have to say about premarital sex? Divorce? Do we value monogamy to the exclusion of non-monogamous relationships, or is marriage just one type of homosexual relationship, all of which are acceptable under our theology?

John Stamper: ...Once you establish that one part of the Christian tradition can be radically revised to meet your current sexual needs, it becomes that much easier to do it again and again and again. Watching porn at home? A "loving and committed" threesome? Even having sex with strangers becomes open to theological defense: it was in my own participation in the Metropolitan Community Churches that I learned about the MCC doctrine of the Holy Hospitality of the Body, how sex can be used as a form of radical welcoming of the Stranger. (In UFMCC's defense, it is not an official part of all or even most MCC churches, but it is part of some and is a direct consequence of UFMCC's lack of rootedness in tradition coupled with its core identity of sexual revisionism.)

It may be that God really wants gay marriage in the church; but activists need to understand why people are rightly skeptical about their arguments. Understanding that skepticism, and not attributing it in reflexive rainbow robothink to "homophobia," is critical if God's will is to be truly discerned.

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posted by Eve at 7:13 PM | link

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