Section #2: Peter & Chasten Buttigieg vs. Vice President Mike & Karen Pence, The Question of Gay Marriage

In the first section of this long article I explained why life-long monogamous marriage is the human ideal, what every individual ought to seek.*

The HUGE question of the last 40 years or so is whether or not those human couples who aren’t heterosexual have the right to monogamous marriage.

Of course, legally, this was decided in the U.S. by the Supreme Court on June 26, 2015 in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges.

The question we are dealing with here is whether or not the decision of the Supreme Court was morally true or not.

Leaders such as Vice President Mike Pence and his spouse, Karen Pence have stated that same sexual relations are morally wrong, so they oppose gay marriage as sin.

The new candidate for President in 2020, former South Bend Mayor Peter Buttigieg and his spouse, Chasten Buttigieg, in contrast, think that same sexuality is normal, not wrong, and that every human has a right to marry.

Intriguingly, both couples allege that they are devout Christians. Mike and Karen are Evangelicals; she teaches at a Baptist elementary school that prohibits same sexuality and gay marriage.

Peter and Chasten are Episcopalians.

BUT that isn’t the key difference between Peter and Chasten, because President George H. Bush opposed gay marriage when he was president, and he, too, is Episcopalian. (Intriguingly, though, at the time, Barbara Bush, supported gay individuals, thought that sexuality was a private matter, and that the Republican Party ought to not ban gay marriage.)

Also, while Mike and Karen oppose same sexuality and gay marriage, allegedly because they are “born-again” Evangelicals, there are even a minority of Evangelical Christian leaders who support gay marriage.(Strangely, Mike and Karen couldn't have been good "born-again Evangelicals back in my early youth, late-50's early 60's, because in Evangelical Christianity at the time, dancing was considered immoral. Dancing was an action that no good Christian would ever do. My own father, a Baptist minister and teacher helped lead the effort to ban the prom at Adams High School because no one ought to dance. YET notice Mike and Karen are dancing, and she is wearing an off-the-shoulder gown!)

Keep in mind that being a member of a Christian denomination doesn’t necessarily mean anything when it comes to morals and ethics.

Heck, former Vice President Dick Cheney was a Methodist, but his political views and many of his actions were immoral and unjust, completely contrary to the social ethics of Wesleyan beliefs. And President Richard Nixon belonged to a pacifist denomination! So much for the True Scotsman.

So, we are going to have to go deeper than the terms secular vs sacred,
or non-Christian vs. Christian,
or Episcopal vs. Evangelical, etc.
The Episcopal Church to which Peter and Chasten belong didn't even recognize gay marriage until about 2012! In that year, the Episcopal Diocese of New York began to hold same sex weddings.

However, the General Convention of 1976 did state, "homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church."
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lgbtq-church

Let’s first briefly look at the history of Christianity in regards to same sexuality.

Traditionally, for many hundreds of years, orthodox Christianity, Judaism, and Islam opposed same sexuality and would have totally opposed gay marriage if it had come up.

#1 The Bible (viewed as inspired by Jews, Muslims, and Christians)

Genesis 19
Leviticus 18, 20
Romans 1:26-27
I Corinthians 6:9-11
Matthew 8
Luke 7
2 Peter 2:4-10
Jude 1:7

#2 Traditional Theology and Ethics of Christianity,Judaism, and Islam

Islam:
In the Quran, same sexual relations are prohibited and are to be punished.

In the Hadith, same sexuality is to be punished with the death penalty.

In Islam, gays are often charged with "debauchery" and are punished with flogging or execution. On the other hand, in the past in some forms of Islam, same sexuality was hinted at positively in poetry and wasn't severely punished; sometimes was ignored.

Judaism:

Besides verses in the Jewish Bible such as Leviticus, traditionally rabbinic leaders expanded the prohibition to include lesbian relations and any same sexual behavior.

Even, today, Orthodox Jewish rabbis condemn same sexual relations and oppose gay marriage.
(Though keep in mind the fact, there may be exceptions such as gay Orthodox Rabbi Steven Greenberg, just like there are exceptions in conservative and Evangelical Christianity including famous leader Tony Campolo.)

Christianity:

From the Church Fathers until recent times, creedal Christianity has opposed same sexuality. Roman Catholic leader John Chrysostom, in the 4th century, claimed that same sexual relations are worse than murder.

Over the centuries, some Christian governments ordered the death penalty for gays, sometimes burning them or using torture, castration, and banishment. Pope Nicholas V in 1451 had the Inquisition arrest same sexual men. They, like in the past, were burned to death.

Martin Luther stated that same sexuality comes from the devil.

The Eastern Orthodox Church condemns same sexual relations as sin and opposes gay marriage.

Etc.

WHEN DID THE CHANGE TOWARD SAME SEXUALITY HAPPEN FOR SOME CHRISTIAN LEADERS?

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, in 1989 Denmark became the first nation to legally establish a form of non-religious marriage for same sexual couples. However, many leaders of the Lutheran Church of Denmark still opposed gay marriage in 2004.

The earliest acceptance of gay relationships by a few creedal Christian leaders seems to have occurred in the early 1970's.

So the weight of Christian history and tradition appears to be on Mike and Karen Pence's side--that same sexuality is sin, morally wrong.

HOWEVER:
Arguing from Christian history and tradition is VERY DANGEROUS! For in 16th century Europe, Mike and Karen could have been burned at the stake or tortured and drowned during that time by the Christian leaders including Roman Catholics, Calvinists and others. Beliefs of Evangelical Christians were considered heretical and evil.

Far more 'Evangelical' Christians were executed for being evil than same sexual individuals!

Even one of the heroes of Evangelicals today, Martin Luther, strongly condemned, not only homosexuals but the 'evangelicals' of his time. And Lutheran and Reformed leaders banished them and supported their executions in some cases.

NEXT:

#1 WHAT ARE THE REASONS TO SUPPORT A CHANGE FROM THE CONDEMNATION OF SAME SEXUALITY BY ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM, AND JUDAISM?

In other words, why ought we to agree with Peter and Chasten (and other such leaders) about gay marriage being good?

#2 WHAT ARE THE REASONS TO SUPPORT OPPOSITION TO SAME SEXUALITY AND GAY MARRIAGE, THE VIEW OF CREEDAL CHRISTIANS SUCH AS MIKE AND KAREN PENCE?


To be continued

In the Light of the Good, the True, the Just, the Caring,

Daniel Wilcox