A little late, but… the Reconstructionists are against Prop 8.
I grew up belonging to a Reconstructionist synagogue, and although my parents have moved onto a new one, I still consider myself part of that denomination.
Just goes to show that not all religious groups want to ban same-sex marriage. Prop 8 imposes a particular religious view on practitioners of all religions.
Just the Mormons are…
That’s not surprising, given that they were the first movement to ordain gay rabbis and perform gay marriages :)
I likewise consider myself a Reconstructionist. The combination of respect and innovation within tradition and non-theism suits me just fine.
Well, as an activist within the Christian community, this is really the crux of the problem: the people who supported Prop 8 have successfully sold the media on the notion that to be “religious” means to be “socially conservative,” especially anti-gay. Unitarians, Reform & Conservative Jews, the United Church of Christ and the Metropolitan Community Church all regularly and officially (according to their private, First Amendment protected rites) bless same-sex marriage. At the “unofficial” (i.e., ecclesiastical authorities agree to look the other way while the wider church wrestles with the theology) level, same-sex blessings are common in the Episcopal and Lutheran churches. But you will find pro-marriage-equality advocates in the Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and, yes, Mormon traditions, as well. Prop 8 supporters push the outrageous lies that churches will be forced to perform same-sex marriages (ask the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston how many times that has happened since 2003!) and even claim that clergy can be arrested for “hate speech” by refusing to perform same-sex marriages or by speaking in opposition to homosexuality. These people genuinely seem to fear that “gay marriage will be taught in the schools” (!!!!!) which I guess means that all the children will “go gay” and then no one will reproduce anymore and then Al Qaeda will take over the country. Or something.
If homosexuality is a choice and if it is a sin and if human beings are by nature sinful and if there is a Satan out there deliberately attempting to lure as many souls into hell as he can, then it all makes sense. Only the moral condemnation of church and state is keeping every straight man from abandoning his wife and children to go fuck other guys. They can dismiss liberal religion’s support for gay rights as heresy: hardline Catholics and fundies certainly don’t consider the UCC, the MCC, and UUs to be “Christian” and Orthodox Jews think anyone not Orthodox is just a hairbreadth away from being Gentile.
If the State stops condemning gay sex and starts openly and publicly affirming homosexuality by giving recognition to gay marriage, then that major source of moral disapproval will be removed and only the individual’s faith in fundamentalist religion will keep them from running off to the bathhouse or leather bar. Since “true believers” are a minority and since only those who believe the correct doctrines can be said to have “real” faith, this means that the vast majority of the male population will stop procreating and will jump headlong into carnality and debauchery. It would be the end of the world: human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.
As large social segments and geographic regions of our country continue to embrace expansion of civil liberties and a more laisez faire method of governance, many conservative religious institutions will become even more fundamentalist in their doctrine and liturgy.
Don’t shrug it off: animal sacrifice shall return within our lifetimes as a mainstream practice.
rob@egoz.org
Of course ;) When Schneerson comes back from the dead and reveals himself to be Moshiach, we’ll all have to go to Jerusalem (or Eastern Parkway) to offer our burnt sacrifices :)
My only comment to Andy is it’s dubious whether Episcopalians, like Unitarians, count as a Christian community! (Joking. I think.)