What do the Christians say?

"Score card here! Score card! You can't tell the players without a score card!"

That old familiar ballpark cry is particularly apt when applied to Christian churches and their view of the Federal Marriage Amendment. Religious leaders are lining up on both sides of the marriage issue and it's getting hard to tell who's who out there.

Under the banner of Clergy for Fairness, you have church leaders from Reformed Judaism, the Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ, amongst others, including Unitarian Universalist, American Friends Service, and The Alliance of Baptists.

The other team, the Religious Coalition for Marriage, sports Roman Catholic cardinals, leaders from the National Association of Evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church of America, Church of God in Christ, Latter Day Saints, the Lutheran Church Synod, National Hispanic Christians and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations.

Strange bedfellows there as most Catholics are taught that anyone outside the Church will spend eternity in a very hot place and most Baptists learn at an early age that anyone not "saved" won't see the other side of the pearly gates. That leaves the Jews out on both counts, and, of course, the Mormons are still considered a cult by practically ever other Christian group and, in return, the Mormons figure all other Christians are totally wrong as they don't have the Book of Mormon. Go figure.

In an Open Letter to the U.S. Senate, the Clergy for Fairness states:

"We are concerned that the Marriage Protection Amendment would mark the first
time in history that an amendment to the Constitution would restrict the civil
rights of an entire group of Americans. Misusing our nation’s most cherished
document for this purpose would tarnish our proud tradition of expanding
citizens’ rights by Constitutional amendment, a tradition long supported by
America’s faith communities. These concerns alone merit rejection of the
Marriage Protection Amendment."

In a Letter From America's Religious Leaders in Defense of Marriage, the Religious Coalition for Marriage states:

"Long concerned with rates of divorce, out-of-wedlock births, and absentee
fathers, we have recently watched with extreme alarm the growing trend of some
courts to make marriage something it is not: an elastic concept able to
accommodate almost any individual preference. This does not so much modify or
even weaken marriage as abolish it. The danger this betokens for family life and
a general condition of social justice and ordered liberty is hard to
overestimate."

Hmmm. After reading that, one wonders why marriage hasn't been abolished in Massachusetts by now, since gay marriage has been legal there for two years? But at any rate, if you call yourself a Christian you get to choose which side of the fence you wish to be on.

One wonders what Jesus' choice would be?

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