Where’s religion at the Prop. 8 trial?
Over at Religion Dispatches, there’s an assessment of the current trial and the absence of “religion” by Candace Chellew-Hodge
Thompson is challenging one of Cott’s ideas that modern marriage laws are shaped now by civil law and social developments; the defense attorney is pushing hard on the anti-gay marriage thesis that heterosexual marriage is tied to history and religion restricting unions to men and women. He repeatedly suggested in his questions that marriage laws are tied to Christianity. At one point, asking Cott about monogamy being the result of the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, the professor got a little impatient. “I know very little about Jesus Christ and his apostles,” Cott shot back at Thompson.
Evangelicals and homosexuality
How this tension will work itself out is a mystery. The Anglican communion is “this” close to schism because of a fundamental difference on the issue of homosexuality. Evangelical churches are going through their own convulsions on the issue, too. I found this article on MSNBC:
But with younger evangelicals and broader society showing greater acceptance of homosexuality, many evangelical churches can expect, at the least, a deeper exploration of the issue.”Highlands Church represents a breakout position, where you have a gay-affirming stance that moves beyond the traditional kind of liberal-conservative divide,” said Mark Achtemeier, an associate professor at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “I’m finding lots of moderate conservatives just think there’s something wrong with a default position of excluding gays from the life of the church.”
I brought up the topic of social justice and gay marriage in my PHIL 101 Intro to Philosophy class. Would King, for instance, think the different treatment of same-sex couples would be similar to a segregationist discrimination? I think on the civil front things are much fuzzier than on the religious front. And by that I mean only that the “battle lines”, if I can put it that way, are very clearly drawn, in many adherents’ views, and on both sides of the issue, on scriptural grounds.
Mary Daly dead at 81
I’ll blame it on grading papers for days as this is not breaking news. Daly was a force to be reckoned with.
I did hear her speak once. When I was at the Claremont Graduate School she gave a lecture. I have to admit that I didn’t understand what she was railing about. I remember that she just seemed “angry”. She used lots of post-modern-y words that were well beyond my Thomistic-Aristotelian mindset and vocabulary. Read more
Mormon church supports gay rights
Who woulda thunk?
With a historic endorsement from the Mormon church, the Salt Lake City Council unanimously passed a pair of ordinances making it illegal to discriminate against gays in housing and employment.
Church support for the ordinances is due in part to the way they are drafted to carve out exceptions that protect the religious freedoms of all churches, according to Under the exceptions, for example, a church owned school that sets rules based on its religious principles would not be forced to change them if the ordinance becomes law.