Amendment two

re published with permission from the author, Rick Sosbe in full, I could not say it better........

Amendment 2 would write discrimination into constitution
By REV. RICK SOSBE – Naples, Pastor, Celebration Metropolitan Community Church
5:30 p.m., Sunday, September 14, 2008
Amendment 2 is known as the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment. My question is: How will voting yes on this amendment on Nov. 4 protect marriage?20I didn’t know marriage was in danger and in need of protection.
From my understanding, the argument is that God and/or the Bible endorses marriage as between one man and one woman. When we consider the times in which Jesus walked the Earth, marriage looked quite different from our modern view of the “sanctity of marriage.” Men owned the women as pieces of property and it was permissible to have more than one wife.
Society has evolved and changed since that time.
My college degree is from an extremely conservative, fundamentalist university, where I was taught that one must properly interpret the Bible in order to understand its meaning. The interpreter must understand the language in which a passage was written, the audience to whom it was written and the cultural beliefs of the time period. It’s dangerous to take God’s sacred word literally. Doing so causes extreme confusion and oppression.
Allow me to give an example: It was Jesus who said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. ... And if your right hand cause s you to sin, cut it off and throw it away” (Matthew).
Shall we take this verse literally and out of context? Would Jesus endorse the mutilation of one’s body? This same chapter of scripture includes the beatitudes. The point being, if one is going to interpret the Bible literally, one cannot pick and choose what passages to follow and what ones to discard. All must be interpreted using the same criteria.
The Bible was once used to support such ghastly practices as discrimination against women and to promote slavery. I would suspect Sarah Palin is thankful the United States of America has shifted its biblical views on women remaining silent and that women are nothing more than pieces of property owned by their husbands.
I would also suspect that African-Americans are thankful that in 1865 the 13th Amendment, which states, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude ... shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” was officially adopted into the U.S. Constitution. I am thankful on both accounts and for all the other times freedom has been written into our Constitution.
America is the land of freedom for all people, including gays. The gay population is quite similar to our straight counterparts. We love our partners, families and friends; we go to work; we shop for groceries; we complain about the rising cost of gasoline; we own our homes and we pay our property taxes. Why should we be denied equal rights that all Americans should enjoy?
I see the proposed Amendment 2 as fear-based — fear that gays will marry and that marriage will go down the tubes. It’s important to note that whether or not this amendment passes, gay marriage will still be illegal in the state of Florida.
Furthermore, even where gay marriage has been legalized, has marriage suffered? Those in support of this amendment give us gays way too much credit.
Maybe we should propose an amendment to make divorce illegal. Maybe that would preserve the sanctity of marriage. Jesus spoke about divorce, but he didn’t say a word about homosexuality. How should we interpret that passage of scripture? Literally?
Amendment 2 allows for discrimi nation to be written into our state constitution. As a proud American, it grieves me to think our society would support discrimination on any level. Aren’t we all created in the image of God? Whether or not one agrees with or understands a particular way one lives his or her life, our constitution should never be used to discriminate against any American. Would Jesus discriminate?
As human beings, aside from religious beliefs, how can we permit discrimination to be written into our state constitution — not to mention the hundreds of thousands of heterosexual people who are in domestic partnerships (where permitted) that will run the risk of losing income should this amendment pass.
Let’s call the proposed Amendment 2 what it is: discrimination. Most fair-minded Americans, whether or not they are Christian, would have to agree that our state constitution should never be used to deny rights, only to grant them.
I’m voting “no” on Amendment 2 and I encourage others to do the same.
Celebration Metropolitan Community Church of Naples (Celebration MCC) worship is20every Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Facility, 6340 Napa Woods Way (formerly 10th Avenue Southwest), Naples; phone 732-0092; www.mccnaples.com.

Its been a while

Well it has been apparently a couple of years since I wrote anything interesting on this blog so here goes.

Gay marriage. What in hell scares so many straight folks with same gender marriage? How in heck does my getting wed to a consensual adult male have anything to frighten the so called 'christians'? Because the bible says so is not a good reason. Its like when your parents told you 'because I said so that's why'. Its not an answer. And the State of Massachusetts did not fall off the face of the earth, nor have anyone made any more money or lost any, outside of divorce lawyers getting in on the deal. I doubt anything bad will happen to the state of California either. And it doesn't seem to be a problem with most of Europe either. Are we really that backwards here?

And why is being a liberal such a bad thing? When did it fall out of favor to take care of your fellow human being? You bible folks seem to forget that golden rule you are supposed to live by, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" I believe is the quote. With so many of you being "conservative" but you cannot even follow your own bibilical rules? I do believe these were not meant as suggestions but as a way to live your life. And then there is this whole "judge not least you be judged' thing, you all seem to be so good at judging others. Seems like those bible thumpers are good at telling you what to do but not so hot at following through.