Whether you’re a resident of California or not, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Proposition 8. It’s an initiative that the ballot description tells us would “change the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California.” It would add a new section to Article I of the constitution that would read “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” I’m writing this note because so much of the information put out by the “Yes on 8″ campaign is a pile of lies. Not the kind of lies politicians might use – omission of facts, shades of gray, or slight exaggerations – but flat untruths easily undone but Googling California law. I’m writing because the campaigns for and against Proposition 8 are tied in the polls. The outcome isn’t certain, the future isn’t set in stone, and the effects on November 5th to the California constitution, civil laws, and the rights of couples in the state can still be influenced.

Early in September I received an email from my Uncle about a sermon from Doug Batchelor, a Seventh-Day Adventist Minister in Sacramento, California. He’d received the newsletter from Amazing Facts about the sermon, which read,

“In a powerful new message, Pastor Doug exposed gay marriage as one of the greatest threats to our families, culture, and civilization. New laws pressing for homosexual marriages to be recognized and protected with all the rights and privileges of traditional marriages are springing up around the country. Pastor Doug explains, “Jesus said this phenomenon would be one of the most obvious signs of the end!”

He warns, “Our families are under a full-blown attack. If we as Christians do not speak out now regarding this abomination, judgment will soon be at our doors!” (See Luke 17:28-30.)”

I did not post the link to the sermon because much of it was slander, hyperbole, and arguments lacking logic that I didn’t wish to spread, but if anyone is interested I can give them the link. I did not take the time to respond, but when my cousin also sent an invitation to view the sermon I wrote this reply:

Cousin,

I watched Doug Bachelor’s video, and when you look past his slippery slope arguments that this will lead to legalization of incest or bestiality; when you look past his claims that gay couples adopt in an attempt to legitimize their families, as if being gay instantly barred someone from loving kids and wanting to raise them, both to show them love and to leave a positive contribution to society; when you looks past his claim that it is inherently unhealthy to the mental health of the individual, when studies, one released just two weeks ago, show it is not the orientation, but the attitudes held by the person and those around them about that orientation, that affect their mental well being; when you look past all of that, and the numerous other erroneous statements, what it comes down to is belief, not fact. Belief in a certain interpretation of scripture, which people are entitled to hold and to preach to others.

That is our religious freedom in America. But when laws are made and constitutions are amended based solely on that religious belief, that is not moving our society in the direction of religious freedom or the separation of church and state. We as Seventh-day Adventists hold this separation especially important, with our interpretation of Revelation being that it is a combination of religious and state powers that will persecute God’s people in a time before Christ’s return. It doesn’t matter whether we inch closer to that union when someone else supports a law based on religious views we disagree with, or when the views are our own and we seek to set them in the constitution of California – the end result is the same.

In America we have the freedom to hold vast and varying religious beliefs, to act those out within our personal lives and to preach what we belief the truth to be to others. But when an argument is made to change a law that affects people of your belief, differing beliefs, or no religious belief, it should be based on reasoning other than “For the Bible tells me so”.

Laws shouldn’t be made based on religious texts unless it also improves the common good of all, but it seems that this argument from scripture is the only one those in favor have for supporting it. They use scare tactics in many of their ads based on misleading facts about how Proposition 8 will affect religious freedom in the country.

Yes on 8 ads warn that if California law is left as is, gay marriage will be taught in schools, to children at a very young age. However, as an article in the LA Times points out,

“There is nothing in the state education code that requires schools to teach anything about marriage. Even the decision about whether to offer comprehensive sex education is left up to individual school districts.

What state law does require is that districts that offer sex education “teach respect for marriage and committed relationships.”

Hilary McLean, spokeswoman for Jack O’Connell, the state superintendent of public instruction, said she was unaware of any district that had changed its curriculum as a result of the California Supreme Court’s May ruling allowing same-sex marriage.”

Related posts:

1. Why gay marriage shouldn’t even be an argument
2. Protesting Marriage
3. The End of the Culture Wars?