I welcome President Obama’s statement. The government has no compelling interest in preventing two people who wish to be a family from being a family.

I would go further: I believe that government should not license “marriages”. “Marriage” has increasingly been taken as a religious term. The argument against same sex marriage usually cites or implies religious sources. Let government give legal recognition to households or families or civil unions, period. That will deal with property, inheritance, who may visit whom in the hospital, etc. Then, if a couple wishes a religious “marriage”, fine, but if not, as is the case now with civil ceremonies, equally fine.

Each religion may define “marriage” for itself since it involves no one else. But society through government has no need to define the word “marriage” which is so emotionally loaded for so many different people.

Because I believe that the issue is genetic, I personally have no problem with the subject at hand. Furthermore, because in my 86 years (64 in the priesthood) I have seen too many gay people suffering to adjust their lives and only feel liberated when they come “out of the closet,” I embrace them with all my heart. However, what is far more important, I feel God embraces them.

The primary justification for marriage is that it satisfies the need for companionship. Abraham exiled his fertile wife Hagar and stayed with the presumably infertile one, Sarah. Why? Because she was his companion and he loved her. Fertility tests are not a requirement for marriage. The obligation to “be fruitful and multiply” is not always a factor in heterosexual marriages. Who wouldn’t gladly officiate at the marriage of AN eighty-year-old man & woman?! More importantly, it is not up to us to judge people who are born gay or lesbian. Those of us who have problems with the fact that a person is gay should discuss our problem with the One Who created people to be different. The problem is not with the created but with the Creator, so we should take it to God rather than taking it out on other people! Finally, “marriage” is not an economic union or legal structure involving subordination. Marriage is an equal partnership based on mutual respect and love. That is why, in my opinion, we should allow homosexual couples to marry.

In this Easter season (which continues until Pentecost), I’ve been reading and reflecting on the Acts of the Apostles. This book continues Luke’s Gospel beyond the resurrection of Jesus. Acts of the Apostles powerfully depicts the way in which the Holy Spirit empowered the disciples of Jesus to take bold action in spreading the good news of Jesus’ victory over the powers of sin and death.

As part of that bold action the early church, led by such persons as Peter and Paul, violated God’s law as they had received it in their previous faith community. They had been taught that God’s law forbids the eating of certain foods. And this condemnation had led to the conviction that Jews and Gentiles ought not to mix at all.

But Peter and Paul (among others) saw the Holy Spirit working among the Gentiles and they began to baptize Gentiles, to welcome them into the Jesus movement. This of course raised quite a controversy. Who had given them the authority to violate God’s law? And if this aspect of God’s law was violated, what was to prevent the collapse of the entirety of God’s law?

Those are good questions. And both Peter and Paul (especially Paul) went to work developing a Biblically grounded theology for the full inclusion of Gentiles into the Jesus movement.

Today’s question for Christians is just as radical as the question faced by Peter and Paul and the early church (though the biblical grounds for saying there is a law against all homosexuality and homosexual sexual intercourse is MUCH weaker than saying there is a law against eating pork or other “unclean” foods).

Christians today are asking, is the Holy Spirit working among homosexual persons and therefore are they also to be fully welcomed into the Church? Some Christians have answered “yes” to that question and have gone to work to develop a Biblically grounded theology for full inclusion of homosexuals within the church; which includes ordination and marriage for homosexuals.

President Obama in his recent statement on “gay marriage” recognized his continuing “evolution” on the question of full inclusion, not in the church, but in our society as structured by laws regulating marriage. His evolution follows in some ways the evolution of the early church on the welcoming of the Gentiles: a growing sense that God is doing something new, and the evidence is in the lives of the people previously excluded and regarded as sinners.

I am not sure what President Obama’s motivation was to change his mind. It may be pure political calculation. But whatever the motivation, he has taken a position that certainly challenges a number of Christians; in particular those Christians who regard the moral teaching condemning homosexual intercourse as divine law.

At the same time, President Obama has come to stand with those Christians who reflect the boldness depicted in Acts of the Apostles. These Christians have come to recognize the Holy Spirit working among homosexuals and thus say it is time for full inclusion in the church and in society.

Proverbs 14:34 makes it crystal clear that adhering to the Biblical guidelines of morality will generate the blessings of God on our Nation. Our President deliberately set aside those Biblical guidelines along with the accompanying blessings of God, when he became the first sitting President to endorse same-sex marriage. Hollywood may endorse it, but Heaven doesn’t, and neither do I.

Despite apocryphal stories telling of the end of civilization (or at least the institution of marriage), President Obama’s announcement last week concerning same sex marriage did not change one thing. He clearly said it was a personal decision for him and shared with us how he arrived at his “evolved” position. I have been listening to and engaging with people since the President announced his “decision” (with apologies to Lebron James) and for me, it comes down to this: Do we believe in the United States of America, that same sex couples, who are citizens of the United States, who pay taxes and a part of the nation’s fabric, should they be able to go to a county register’s office, and get a marriage license? This has absolutely nothing to do with one’s belief, faith, theology, or biblical interpretation. It does not have anything to do with pastors officiating same sex unions, churches believing that homosexuality is a sin or not, or that gay marriage will forever wreck the institution of marriage. This is and always has been an equality issue. So again, do we believe that citizens (in this case, same sex couples) of the United States of America should be able to get a marriage license from a government official? Or do we want government out of the marriage business and have government only issue civil unions to all couples?

The Bible is unequivocally against homosexual intercourse. The leader of the Church Of God In Christ has spoken about his commitment to Biblical principles and our traditional stand on marriage. I am just as opposed to fornication of any type but will respect the right of any individual to proclaim their position privately or publicly, pro or con. My job is to preach the truth in a loving and compassionate way! Not my truth but Biblical truth.