Societal Abandonment of the Bible as a Moral Guide

Gay couple protesting outside the Boston State House in 2007 - photo credit: ABC

This morning I noted that one of the original sponsors of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) - Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio - has changed his mind. He now supports same sex marriage. DOMA defines marriage applicable only to a man with a woman. It does not extend marital benefits to same sex marriages. This act was passed and endorsed by President Clinton who has also recently changed his views about it. Many states now have passed legislation that allows same sex couple to get married.

I have long ago stated my views about homosexuality and my opposition to gay marriage. The short version is that homosexuals should be treated like the human beings they are. And that we not focus on who they are attracted to. To the extent that they might engage in behavior that is forbidden by the Torah is not anyone’s concern. Unless they do so proactively with the intent of promoting it as a legitimate alternative lifestyle. That has to be opposed as would promoting any sinful act.

And let me be clear about the sinfulness of the forbidden homosexual act. There are some gay activists that have a certain familiarity with the bible that want to reinterpret it as somehow permissible. The very idea of doing such a thing gives new meaning to the word rationalization.  It is the height of absurdity to say that an act is biblically permitted when the bible clearly forbids it. The bible says what it says. You can’t rationalize it away no matter how much you would like to.

My opposition to same sex marriage is based on the fact that by its nature marriage is a religious ceremony celebrating the holy union between a man and a woman. Even though there is such a thing as civil marriages, in my view the source of all marriages is based on a religious idea. I don’t believe that there would necessarily be an institution called marriage without the bible.

Civil unions are an entirely different animal. The argument might be made that all legal rights granted to a male-female union should be extended to a same sex union. But in the phrase ‘marriage ceremony’ the very word ceremony has religious ritual overtones.

But this is not my issue today. What troubles me is the Zeitgeist of ridding the world of the idea that homosexual behavior is forbidden by God. It is becoming increasingly fashionable to view a clear act forbidden by the Torah as completely permissible and even laudable in that it is an expression of love that helps cement a loving relationship.

This is not a problem if one is an atheist. Or even a deist. It is not a problem if one is even generically religious without subscribing to any biblical doctrines. It is entirely libertarian. It is entirely humanistic. And even compassionate. But in my view as a bible believing Jew, it is wrong.

If one accepts the bible’s clear admonition against a forbidden act the way I do, they cannot be comfortable with the direction this country is going. It is one thing to be tolerant. That is a function of ‘live and let live’ – a dictum I subscribe to. It is not my job or right to tell others how to live, whther I approve of it or not. It is another to normalize a sinful act.

The forbidden act of homosexual  sex is no different than any other act that is forbidden by God. Normalizing it and treating it as though it is permitted does not, I believe, smell good in the nostrils of God. It would be no different than normalizing biblical level adultery. Adultery is forbidden even if all partners are consensual as would be the case in an open marriage. Just because there is a lot of adultery between consenting adults in this country does not mean we have to turn it into a positive value. The same thing is true about the biblically forbidden act of gay sex.

The increasing pressure to repeal DOMA and encourage legitimizing gay marriage across the land is a move in that direction. It may satisfy humanitarians and libertarians. But is disconcerting to those of us who believe that it is wrong to place even a quasi religious imprimatur via what we want to call marriage to a union between members of the same sex. Because such unions imply that the sexual act that accompanies marriage is just as legitimate as the sexual act between a married heterosexual couple.

This would mean another very serious step down the road of rejecting the dictates of the bible in a country that is increasingly becoming less religious and more libertarian. In the world of libertarians sexual morality is practically nonexistent as a societal value. Is this the kind of society we want to raise our children in? Where they are taught by society that gay sex is just fine… like eating kosher candy? Nothing wrong with it?

It is one thing to acknowledge the prevalence of homosexuality in the world and the attendant biblically forbidden sex that that usually accompanies it… and to tolerate it. It is also very just to not be judgmental to those who engage in it in the privacy of their own homes. It is equally just to treat homosexuals as equals in all societal encounters. Who they are attracted to is none of our business and shouldn’t influence our encounters with them. All human beings are created in the image of God and ought to be treated that way.

But when there is a push to completely normalize gay sex – making a biblically forbidden act completely equal to heterosexual sex which is blessed by God through marriage - it is just plain wrong. And in my view not pleasing to God. Those of us who are American citizens who feel the same way I do ought to discourage it. I am very disappointed that things are going in this direction.