GAY TRUTH

Now that Australia has, in response to the vote in a postal survey, redefined the law of marriage to allow same-sex couples to be married, what are the implications for the religious freedom of those who believe this is contrary to God’s will? This paper will simply outline some issues, all of which will need careful further thought. [2] One preliminary point worth noting is that many of these matters are issues which would have come up even if the Australian public had not voted to change the definition of marriage to include same sex couples. Biblical Christians have been ‘out of step’ with the broader Western culture ’s views on sex and marriage for some time. [3] But there are some specific issues that arise with the change inthe nature of marriage, especially around the law on solemnising marriage. And there seems little doubt that the ‘moral imperative’ to approve homosexual behaviour given by the statutory recognition of same sex marriage ( SSM ) will encourage further oppos

English: Picture of Raymond Card. Burke at a Mass at St. Clement's Eucharistic Shrine in Boston, MA, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Two cardinals active at October’s Extraordinary Synod on the Family offered strikingly contrasted messages on the hot-button issues from the Synod in talks to crowds in England on the weekend. While American Cardinal Raymond Burke urged Christians to be prepared to face martyrdom if need be in defense of marriage, Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle’s remarks on the issue focused on the need to avoid “harsh” and “severe” language about homosexuals and Catholics who ‘remarry’ without an annulment. In a speech in northern England at a conference organized by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children and Voice of the Family, Cardinal Burke said that our societies can “no longer be called Christian” and called for a movement of re-evangelization, starting from scratch. “In our day, our witness to the splendor of the truth about marriage mus

LGBT flag map of Brazil (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Virtually no serious person disputes that in our society, people generally experience their gay or straight orientations as unchosen and unchangeable. But the LGBT community goes further, portraying itself as a naturally arising subset of every human population, with homosexuality being etched into some people’s DNA. Are gays indeed born that way? The question has immense political, social, and cultural repercussions. For example, some of the debate over applying the Constitution’s equal protection clause to gays and lesbians focuses on whether gayness is an inborn characteristic. And the major argument gays and lesbians have made for religious affirmation has been, “God made me this way.” Thus, if it’s proven sexual orientations are not innate, much of the scaffolding upon which today’s LGBT movement has been built would begin to crumble. Given the stakes, most gays and lesbians are dismissive or hostile toward anyone who doesn