I am getting fed up with the line taken by so many of the opponents of the equal marriage bill currently being debated in the House of Commons. I know that political and religious reactionaries always claim to speak for far more people than they actually do, but I do take strong exception to their claims to speak for all Christians. They do not speak for me.
The religious right’s cherry-picking of out-of-context Bible quotes to justify homophobia remind me a lot of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa during the years of Apartheid. There are plenty of Old Testament verses than can be used to justify racism. Yet the overwhelming majority of churches today reject such interpretations, whatever positions they may have held in the past. Most famously the Dutch Reformed Church has publicly atoned for it’s support for Apartheid and declared it’s previous position as heretical. I fail to be convinced that one notorious verse in Leviticus is any different.
As for the ridiculous argument that equal marriage equates to some form of persecution of Christians, I suggest those making that claim go and speak to a few representatives of Pakistan’s beleaguered Christian minority, and learn what genuine persecution really means.
