The Black Informant

A Formal Debate on Christian Morality and Politics in the African-American Community(Part I)

***UPDATE: I decided to split this piece into two pieces. It just occurred to me just how long this piece is (sorry about that guys!). So what we will do is on Tuesday and Wednesday, I will post his piece. Thursday and Friday I will post my feedback.

Duane
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Yesterday, I received the following forwarded e-mail from a friend of mine. After I read it, I found it very intriguing because I feel that the viewpoint reflects what I believe many Blacks who voted for Kerry. I also feel that the author addresses some issues that I believe the black community (which a good percentage claims to be Christian) need to face in the days ahead.

Undoubtedly, the black church has played a very pivotal role in American politics in the last few decades. During this time, the church has never been united when it comes to the issues that we face in this generation. Today, you will find pastors that are pro-abortion and anti-abortion…and they teach from the same book! It is time for that to end if the church is to mean anything in this generation.

I have never met Mike (the author of this e-mail), but from our e-mail correspondence he seems like a very sincere man who has an opinion (just like the rest of us). Although I may disagree with him on some points, I believe he did a very good job expressing his point. That is why I chose to bring his e-mail to this forum for debate/discussion.

As the reader, you are more than welcome to add your comments, in fact I encourage you to do so. I already told Mike that I will need about a day to respond so that I can have all of my facts together.

Here is his view:

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To Whom It May Concern:

I have written an opinion piece that was prompted by an email that I received from an AOL Buddy not long after Presidential election in November 2004. The email reads as follows:

Many Christian fundamentalists have gone into ecstasy over George Bush’s election.

One of the most fervent effusions has come from Bob Jones III, President of Bob Jones University in South Carolina, a copy of which follows.

(Actual Letter)

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
November 3, 2004

Dear Mr. President:

The media tells us that you have received the largest number of popular votes of any president in America’s history. Congratulations!

In your re-election, God has graciously granted America–though she doesn’t deserve it–a reprieve from the agenda of paganism. You have been given a mandate. We the people expect your voice to be like the clear and certain sound of a trumpet. Because you seek the Lord daily, we who know the Lord will follow that kind of voice eagerly.

Don’t equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you.

Had your opponent won, I would have still given thanks, because the Bible says I must (I Thessalonians 5:18). It would have been hard, but because the Lord lifts up whom He will and pulls down whom He will, I would have done it. It is easy to rejoice today, because Christ has allowed you to be His servant in this nation for another presidential term.

Undoubtedly, you will have opportunity to appoint many conservative judges and exercise forceful leadership with the Congress in passing legislation that is defined by biblical norm regarding the family, sexuality, sanctity of life, religious freedom, freedom of speech, and limited government. You have four years–a brief time only–to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God.

Christ said, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my father honor” (John 12:26).

The student body, faculty, and staff at Bob Jones University commit ourselves to pray for you–that you would do right and honor the Savior. Pull out all the stops and make a difference. If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them. Conservative Americans would love to see one president who doesn’t care whether he is liked, but cares infinitely that he does right.

Best wishes.

Sincerely your friend,

Bob Jones III
President

(End)

Preface: Insight into Me, the author of the following response.

Before I even begin, let me give you some insight into me as a person. I am a person that is appreciative of the intelligence that I have been blessed with. I am appreciative of the anointing on my life, particularly with my ability to look at things logically. With that being said, I realize that I am only 37 years old and I don’t have all the answers. I make mistakes just like everyone else, and I don’t have a monopoly on knowledge. I certainly don’t know everything and don’t pretend to. I am on a constant hunt for knowledge though.

What I am about to share with you are merely my beliefs. Although I feel strongly about my beliefs, I am not in love with my beliefs per se. I just believe what I believe based on the experiences that I have been blessed to have, the education that I have attained, the facts that I have, and the logical reasoning that I apply. I say that I am not in love with them because if new facts come to light and a higher level of reasoning can be applied, I am not wedded to any belief that I have. If I can’t refute a rebuttal with facts and logic than I am more than happy to change course. I am trying to “be right”, but that doesn’t mean I “am right.” If I am proven to be wrong I have no problem shifting gears and revising my opinion because it then allows me to be back on the side of right.

With that as the backdrop I want to share with you my thoughts on my perception of a document that I call:

Right Wing Christian Morality

Purpose for this Piece

In my opinion, it is very sad and disappointing that the right wing conservatives appear to believe, based on their rhetoric, that the Republican Party has a virtual “lock” on Christian morality and values. I certainly do not believe that to be the case. I don’t believe either party can claim to be completely on the side of Christian Values. Christian morality does not end with abortion and homosexuality. Those are only two issues of many that God has a position on. God cares about poverty, unemployment, social programs, education, the value of life, etc. etc. etc. The list goes on and on.

I believe that Republicans and Democrats are on the right side of some of the values, and on the wrong side of others. But, I also believe that “you can’t be a little bit pregnant.” In my opinion when it comes to claiming “moral authority”, politicians and political parties should either be “all the way in” or they shouldn’t claim it at all. If either party can’t justify through scripture that it is “all the way in” with regards to Christian morality, then it should leave Christianity out of their political debates. No one should ever keep religion out of their individual decisions because God gives us the best guidance that we could ever have, but I firmly believe that they should keep religion out of their politics if they are not committed to being “all the way in.” If not, they run the risk of becoming spiritual hypocrites, which I believe many Conservative Republicans have become.

What is even worse than becoming an individual spiritual hypocrite though, is that they make the Christian Religion and Jesus Christ look hypocritical to anybody who has common sense and can read. Since one of God’s main objectives is the Salvation of all of his people and he is depending on Christians, as His representatives, to spread the message with our words and make God look attractive to non believers with our deeds, anything that we may do or say that makes us look like liars is defeating God’s purpose and not pleasing him. Would you agree?

If the Democrats were claiming to represent the religious right, I would call us hypocrites as well. Fortunately, Democrats don’t claim that distinction. Since the Republicans are claiming it, the critical portions of this opinion are primarily for them. While the empowering and educational portions of this opinion, are designed to give liberal Christian Democrats some logical ammunition that can be used during these types of debates.

Since our leaders have undoubtedly allowed conservatives to define us inappropriately and our leaders have been unable to logically counteract the distortions in an effective way, I have to assume that they don’t see the argument from all of the necessary and appropriate angles to be effective enough to break down the hypocrisy during debates.

Therefore, they haven’t been able to arm the people with the appropriate ammunition to defend ourselves, and too many of us have been left with the stereotype that being a liberal is something to be ashamed of and is inconsistent with Christian values. This document is intended to dispel that myth and arm us with Bible based arguments that can’t easily be refuted, and expose the hypocrisy that is in our faces everyday.

Keep in mind; I don’t have a problem with people having different beliefs. That is one of the things that make America great. My issue is not with conservative Republicans for believing what they believe. Although I do disagree with them on most issues, I respect their right to have their opinions, and I understand many of their motives for their perspectives.

What I have an issue with is them claiming that their positions and motives are totally line with Christian values and that they believe that they have the “lock” on morals. I also vehemently disagree with their position that liberals are totally out of line with God’s laws. Neither one of the parties is “all the way” in line with Christian doctrine and therefore, neither of them have a right to claim the moral high ground in my opinion.

Republican Conservatives have claimed the high ground and that is the reason for this opinion piece. Their PR departments have done a marvelous job of convincing the American people that their positions are in line with Christianity, while the Liberal Democrats are out of line. These untrue and baseless positions have been so heavily promoted by the media and by the religious right, that too many Americans have accepted the lie as the truth. I am committed to exposing the lie for what I believe it is, false propaganda.

The bottom line for me is that you can’t be a little bit pregnant and you are either all the way in, or you are not in. Anything less than being all the way in with regards to Christianity is in my opinion compromising the Christian Doctrine. I believe that unfortunately we have a high level of Compromised Christianity in our country and it has infiltrated our government.

With that said, keep in mind as you read this opinion that although I disagree with the conservatives on many of their positions, “I am not criticizing them for having them and taking them.” I am merely criticizing them for taking many of their positions and claiming that they are consistent with Christian values. Many of them are consistent, but many aren’t. And since I believe that you are either all the way in or not, they need to separate their politics from their spirituality, because they are making Jesus look bad to many Americans, as well as the rest of the world.

Whose side is God on?

The conservatives appear to believe, based on their rhetoric, that God is on their side in the abortion and gay marriage debate. I disagree wholeheartedly. In the first place, God is on all of our sides. I believe it is ridiculous for any individual or group of people to assume that God is only on their side. To be totally honest, it is not even about God being on any of our sides, it is supposed to be about US being on God’s side, period. God sets the agenda and we are to follow it, not the other way around.

That argument that God is on the side of the conservatives is almost as silly as a football team believing that God was on their side in a Super Bowl victory. There are Christians on both opposing teams and how egotistical one must be to assume that God chose them over His other children. He obviously loves us all, including the good ones and the bad ones, the believers and the non-believers, the criminals and the law abiding, etc. Doesn’t our Bible teach us that Jesus was sent to us for the very purpose of Saving ALL of us, whether we are on the right side of an argument, or the wrong side?

Is God Pro Life or Pro Choice?

Here is the controversial section of this piece. I expect to get some calls and some emails over this theory but I feel compelled to put it out there and get your feedback. Even without considering the theological inaccuracy of the conservative’s belief regarding God being on their side in the abortion and gay marriage debate, when I take a much closer look at the plain logic of the concept, I see hypocrisy riddled throughout. Consider this controversial theory:

First of all, I am a liberal Christian and proud of it. I don’t believe in all of the things that liberals believe, but most of their philosophies are more closely aligned with my beliefs than the conservative philosophies are (Civil Rights, affirmative action, anti war, anti gun, etc). I wouldn’t consider myself a left wing liberal by any stretch of the imagination. As a matter of fact I have many conservative beliefs, particularly with regards to religion and behavior.

Let me first say that I am 100% against abortion. I am also 100% against lying, but I don’t believe there should be a law against it. I am 100% against adultery, but I don’t believe we should put people in jail for it. I am 100% against using the Lord’s name in vain, but I don’t believe you should do time for it. I believe that God is against abortion as well, even though I don’t believe the doctrine on abortion is specifically spelled out in the Bible. If someone can provide for me with scripture where God or Jesus teaches specifically about abortion, please forward the chapter and verse. I am not talking about an individual interpretation regarding the value of life. I am talking about scripture that addresses abortion specifically and uses the term “abortion.” Had it been spelled out specifically, I doubt there would be this much division among Christians regarding the issue.

I wonder why He chose not to lay down His position on abortion specifically. We as Christians believe that He doesn’t make mistakes and we believe that He is Omniscient. Surely He could see how much uncertainty and confusion the omission would cause in the future. I don’t have an answer for why He didn’t make it clear enough so there could be no debate and there would be no need for interpretation. He left no room for debate and interpretation in many of His laws, but not all.

With that being said, I have to conclude that since He believes so much in life that He is against abortion and I tidily place my logic under the “Thou Shalt not Kill” commandment. But, just like I believe he is against abortion, I believe he is against murder, lying, adultery, stealing and many other sins that contradict his word. In reality though, God has laid out for us what his position is on all of these issues in the Bible (For Christians), but gives us “free will” to follow, or not follow the right way. He does not legislate for us what we can and can’t do. He gives us the choice to be right or wrong.

God is omniscient, omnipresent, but most importantly for this discussion, omnipotent. Which means that he has all power over everything and everyone. Surely, God had the power and still has the power to make sure that we do exactly what He wants us to do. He has the control over us. That is one of the basic tenants of Christianity that all Christians believe, or we wouldn’t consider ourselves Christians. He has made it clear how He feels about killing for example. He is totally against it, but He Chose not to control our decisions and our actions regarding whether to kill or not. He could have controlled that, but he chose not to. He chose to give us “free will”, or a choice to do whatever we want to do. Is that not true?

He chose to give us the power of choice in all matters, not just abortion. Here is the potentially controversial question. Why do you believe that He chose to give us the power of choice? Could it possibly be because God is Pro Choice by nature, in all areas? His actions make it clear to me that He is Pro Choice, in general. He tells us exactly what we should and should not do in all areas. He tells us what the consequences are if we make the wrong choices. There will be hell to pay for those that make the wrong choices and never get saved. Let me be clear about that. But, with that being said, He still gives us the “free will,” or choice, to make our own decisions. Is that not true?

I am not saying that I believe God is Pro Abortion. I firmly believe that he is unequivocally and diametrically opposed to abortion. I am saying that I believe that He is for our choice to make our own decisions in all areas and therefore I believe he is pro choice in general, in all areas. With regard to abortion from a “spiritual standpoint”, which is the most important aspect, I believe He is both Pro Life and Pro Choice.

I believe God is clearly against abortion from a Biblical standpoint, but where would he stand from a “political” standpoint, since we are talking politics? The only way we can tell that is by reading His word and looking at his actions. Here come the really controversial statement that may cause me to lose some supporters. I believe that ultimately in God’s heart, He is both Pro Life and Pro Choice from a spiritual standpoint. But, I believe that if He had to take a “political” stance on the issue, His stance would be pro choice.

I believe that purely based on His decision to give us free will and free choice on all matters in the first place, when He did not have to. Why would God give us the choice to make the wrong decision if it were not for a purpose, or if He didn’t believe in the concept? As Christians, we all believe that God doesn’t make mistakes, right? So, when he does something it is for a purpose, correct? So if He chose not to legislate us into making the right choice, what does that say to you about how He feels about the importance of choice?

Lets use some logical If/Then statements for all the intellectuals out there. You may appreciate this. If God has given us free choice on all matters (which we must agree that He has), then doesn’t that make a case that He must believe in the concept of free choice, even if it is the wrong choice? I think so.

And if He believes in the concept of free choice in all matters, even when it is wrong, then can’t we make a case that God is Pro-Choice in all matters? If He gives us “free choice” then He must be “for choice,” right? Doesn’t the term “for” mean the same as “pro”? If the terms “for” and “pro” mean the same thing then can’t we substitute the word “for” with “pro”? I believe so.

If we can substitute those words because they have the same meaning, than if God is “for choice” in all matters, then doesn’t that also mean the He is “Pro Choice” in all matters? And if the case can be made that God believes in Pro Choice in all matters, then since abortion falls under the umbrella of “all matters”, can’t a case be made that God is Pro Choice in the abortion matter, at least from a political standpoint?

Since we all know that God believes in the value of Life in general, it would be crazy to insinuate that God could be “only” pro choice from a spiritual standpoint. That is the reason that I have taken the position that from a spiritual standpoint, I believe God is Pro Life and for Pro Choice. But in politics, you can’t stand on both sides of the fence. Therefore, I believe that if God had to take a political stance, it would be Pro Choice based on His actions.

It makes it very clear to me. Does that make any sense to you? I believe He is still against the choice, but He believes in allowing us the freedom to make the wrong choice, for whatever His reasons are. How can we deny that fact?

As a Christian liberal, I no longer believe in abortion as I once did. But, I don’t believe in legislating what others do based on my Christian beliefs alone. I believe in legislation when the majority of the people believe in something universally. When it comes to abortion I don’t believe there is a universal belief that it is wrong. By universal I mean across all spectrums, from religious spectrums to non-religious spectrums. To be more specific I am saying that if the majority of American people believed that abortion was wrong and the majority included Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics, etc., than I believe that it would be fair for American politicians to legislate outlawing abortion in America.

But, the truth is we don’t have a majority in the universal community that believes that. We don’t even have a consensus in the Christian community. Even in our community there are some who believe that abortion is completely wrong under any circumstances, but you have others that believe the fetus isn’t a living creature until the 3rd trimester. There is another group of Christians that believe abortion wrong, but don’t believe in the right to force Christian beliefs on non-Christians. There is another group of Christians that believe abortion is wrong, unless there are mitigating circumstances like rape or if the health of the mother is at risk. My point is that even in the Christian community there is division. When you add to our division all the Non Christian Americans who have different beliefs entirely on the abortion issue, and other Americans who don’t even believe in religion at all, there is no majority belief across the board that it is wrong, even if many Christians believe it is wrong.

With that being said, I believe that it is an individual decision that one must reconcile with God. In addition, God has instituted grace and Jesus died for our sins so that our sins will be forgiven if we honestly repent and ask God for forgiveness. If we mean it in our hearts, He is bound by His word to forgive us even though we made a decision that He was not pleased with. Just as he does when we lie everyday, when we cheat everyday, when we don’t speak to our neighbors everyday, when we succumb to the spirit of fear everyday, etc. etc. God forgives us for our mistakes. Why wouldn’t having an abortion fall under that same grace and forgiveness, if a person became Saved?

All liberal Christian Democrats are not saying that it is right to have an abortion and that they believe we should kill unborn babies. As I said, many Liberal Christians like myself also believe that abortion is wrong. But, we believe that each person should have the choice to make his or her own decision regarding it, just as God gives us all a choice. In that vain, we are following the model set by God to a tee, are we not?

My point is that liberals have allowed the conservatives to structure a false belief throughout the country that if you believe in God and if you are against abortion, you can’t be a liberal democrat because they believe in abortion. That statement is simply not true. There are some liberals who have no problem with abortion whatsoever and there are some that do disagree with it personally, but understand that it is not right to legislate another person’s religion, like myself. There is a place in the Democratic Party for Christians who are pro choice.

The “What about Murder Debate?”

Invariably, some people will be offended by this theory and attempt to use the example of murder to disprove it. Some will say that if my argument holds true than we shouldn’t have a law against murder because God gives us the choice to commit it. Many would say that if my theory were accurate than we really shouldn’t have any laws at all, since God has given us the choice. Although that is a very legitimate question and concern, let me try to explain to you why I believe that is an apples to oranges argument:

First of all, I believe that we should and must have certain laws in this country and the law against murder is one that is necessary and just. But, our country typically enacts laws when there is a “majority” of people that agree with a position. Our laws really aren’t necessarily based solely on Christian morality. For example there is a majority belief throughout the whole country that murdering an innocent person is wrong. Actually, that is also a worldly belief. That is not just a moral Christian belief. Most Christians believe it is wrong, most Jews believe it is wrong, most Muslims believe it is wrong. Most agnostics and most Atheists believe that it is wrong. It is a universal belief that actually to falls in line with Christian doctrine as well as many other doctrines.

Although the law against murder is consistent with Christian doctrine, the national mandate was not created exclusively because of Christianity. The majority of people believe it whether they are Christian or not. The way our system of government is designed to work is like this. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. The government was designed to be of the people, by the people, and for the people. Candidates run for elected office on platforms, or issues, that the people of their state, district, etc. are concerned about. The politicians are supposed to represent the people and address issues that are important to the people. When the elections take place the candidates that win the majority of the vote are elected to represent the majority of the peoples best interest.

It doesn’t always work out that perfectly, but for the most part if the majority of the people voted a candidate into office based on the candidate campaigning on the peoples interest, and the candidate then voted on bills and laws that were against the people’s interest, they would be voted out of office in the next term, correct?

My point is the majority of the people vote for politicians that create laws to benefit the majority’s interest. It is the majority of the people believing the in a policy that gives it enough power to get pushed through the legislative process, not necessarily the Christian morality of it. In many cases Christian morality may be the inspiration of a law, but it oftentimes takes more than Christians to support it to get it passed. Particularly in a country that has freedom of religion as one of it’s founding principles. Murder happens to be a universal and moral mandate as well as a popular mandate.

Personally, I believe that our laws should be based on morality and since I am a Christian, I would prefer for them to be based on Christian morality. But, I understand that all Americans don’t believe in Christianity and it would be unfair to force our morality on them by enacting certain laws based on Christianity. I also understand that Christian morality is not always how we have gone about enacting laws in this country.

For example, and this is not a knock against Jews or Muslims, but some Jews don’t believe that Christ is the Messiah, but there are some laws that they believe in that happen to fall in line with Christian doctrine. Some Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet and not the son of God, but there are some laws they believe in that also happen to fall in line with Christian doctrine, etc.

Therefore, I believe that the majority of the laws that have been put on the books since our country began passing legislation have passed because the majority of the people believed in the concepts and influenced their elected officials to vote them in, not necessarily because of the Christian morality of them. My position on abortion being similar to murder is like comparing apples to oranges because the abortion issue is not a national popular mandate that the majority of the people believe in, that is why it hasn’t passed. If the majority of the Americans of all different religious beliefs and non-religious beliefs bought into it, as they have with murder, it would have a better chance at becoming a law.

If the majority of Americans believed that abortion should be banned, there wouldn’t be lobbyist groups fighting it so hard. There wouldn’t be so much division on the issue, which I alluded to earlier. People would be in agreement on the desire to ban abortion. People would not vote for politicians that believed in keeping it legal. If our government worked the way it is designed to work, the politicians and the Supreme Court Justices would see that the people want abortion banned and they would vote to ban it. That is, if this truly is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The people ultimately have say in the Supreme Court as well because presidents make appointments to replace retired Supreme Court Justices. For example, as long as our country continues to vote for conservative presidents, when Supreme Court appointments come up in the future, chances are conservative judges will be appointed to fill them. Why would a conservative president who is against abortion appoint a Supreme Court Justice that is Pro Choice? Chances are that won’t happen. Conservative Justices will more than likely overturn Roe vs. Wade and the end of the day it would have ultimately have been because the majority of the people had spoken with their vote. But, it still wouldn’t be because of Christianity. It would be because the majority spoke with their votes.

The history of American laws has not always been based on Christian morality either. For example, prior to 1863 the majority of the people in America believed that slavery was appropriate and they voted for representatives that made it legal. Therefore slavery was legal up until 1863. It was against Christian morality, but the law was not based on Christian morality. There came a point in time where mindsets began to change and it was no longer the majority that believed it. They had a Civil war and the North won. I am not trying to give you a history lesson and I don’t claim to be a scholar of American history, but I hope you are getting the point.

At some point the majority felt that slavery should be banned and it eventually was through legislation passed by the representatives of the voters. I am sure some of the people who fought to abolish slavery would say that their Christian values prompted their actions. But, these people still weren’t Christian enough to believe in integration and equal treatment of blacks. Therefore, their elected officials, who eventually enacted Plessy vs. Ferguson, which was a law that said “separate but equal” was legal, established the majority’s views. That was another example of the majority believing in a philosophy that was eventually enacted into a law that was not Christian Centered, but majority centered.

Furthermore, today’s national laws can’t necessarily be traced back to all of God’s laws. If that were the case, why haven’t other laws generated as a result of the Ten Commandments? For example, God commanded that we should have no other God before Him. In our country there is no law against believing in Allah or any other God that other religions believe in. God commanded that we not use the Lord’s name in vain, but I don’t believe there is a federal law to support it. God commanded that we not commit adultery, and although there are still “blue laws” on the books making it illegal in some states, when was the last time you heard of one being enforced? God said to keep the Sabbath Holy, but the same can be said about the “blue laws” concerning that. When was the last time you heard of someone getting arrested for not going to church?

These laws have not been enacted or haven’t been enforced because the majority of people don’t believe they should be laws, even if they do try to follow them in their personal lives. On the contrary, because the majority of people, Christian and non-Christian believe that stealing is wrong, elected officials enacted laws to forbid and punish it. Those laws happen to fall in line with God commandment regarding “thou shalt not steal”, but they were not passed necessarily because of God’s commandment. God commanded that we not give false testimony against they neighbor and that we not covet our neighbors possessions, but our country hasn’t developed laws to enforce these commandments and people lie on people all the time. Do you see my point?

There may very well come a point in time where the majority of American’s change their opinion about abortion as the Supreme Court Justices composition is adjusted to the point where the majority of the Justices are conservative and they vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade. The slavery law was changed in 1863. But, if it gets voted in it will be because of the change in the majority mindsets, which changed their voting patterns, which changed the makeup of the Supreme Court. It would not necessarily be because it was the Christian moral thing to do. If we focused on changing mindsets by having more success at converting individuals to Christianity, the numbers might shift and more people would be against it than for it. But, that is not the case as we speak.

Where is God on Same Sex Marriages?

The same argument that I am making regarding the abortion debate is true for same sex marriages. God is clear about how he feels about homosexuality and marriage being between a man and a woman. Liberal Christian Democrats have allowed the false argument to be shaped that if you are a Christian who is against gay marriage than you can’t be a Democrat because they support and believe in gay marriage. There are many Democrats who do believe and support gay marriage. There is no doubt about that. But, it is very possible to be a Christian liberal Democrat who doesn’t believe in gay marriages, but chooses not to support a ban on gay marriages. There is also a place in the Democratic Party for Christians who don’t support a ban on gay marriages.

I don’t believe in gay marriage, but I won’t support a ban on it for the same reason that I won’t support a ban on abortions. It is up to the individual to decide whether he or she wants to follow God’s rule or not. God gave us the free will to follow it or not, so who are we to legislate it? At the present time that is not a majority mandate to do so. The country is split on it right now. The same dynamics that are in place regarding the abortion debate can be played out in this debate too, with regard to which candidates people will vote for and ultimately what the candidates votes will be.

I do though believe that it is somewhat hypocritical for gays to want to be married in a church and make vows before God when the Bible clearly says that God is against it. But, that doesn’t mean that gays shouldn’t have the right to be married if that is there choice. They can go to a Justice of the Peace, City Hall or wherever. Again, God gave us the right of free will, which to me is another way of saying that to some extent, even though God is personally against both of these actions, when it comes to the law of the Land (not his preference) I believe that His stance shows that He has chosen to be pro choice on all things, including abortion and gay marriage.