Should Washington legalize same-sex marriage?
Should Washington legalize same-sex marriage?
As a Untied States citizen, exercising my freedom to vote according to my conscience, I would vote no.
But the question is presented in a manner that asks if we think Washington ‘Should’ legalize same-sex marriage? As soon as we enter the realm of ‘Should’ it becomes a very different discussion.
For most people, determining what one ‘should or shouldn’t do’ becomes a discussion of the legislation’s legality based on the Constitutionality of the law as well as a discussion of the ethical and religious aspects of the law. The challenge of differentiating between these two spheres in American culture is at the root of so much of the debate, dissent and confusion on this subject.
I think religious America has to come to terms with the reality that the two have been wed together in ways that have been culturally accepted and even desired by the majority but have not been true to intent of the Constitution in outworking specific matters of separation between Church and State.
The growing secularization of the Country as viewed by many religious people is for some people simply the re-balancing of our Country’s application of Constitutional law.
What kind of America all this produces is deeply problematic to those who orient their public and private lives from a Judea-Christian worldview. For other’s this is seen as an expansion of civil liberties, blossoming of greater equality and justice and an end to the dominant conservative religious framework in place in many of our American Institutions.
I see the divide between Secular and Sacred increasing and producing accompanying means and measures to express and celebrate whichever worldview one holds.
[This was my part of Religion News Spokane’s Blogger roundtable discussion about the issue. You can read other RNS contributors views: here]
