So much has been made of the state of California passing an amendment that effectively bans gay marriage in the state and I know probably no one cares about my two cents on the matter.  Since when has a lack of an audience stopped bloggers.

I’ll get this out of the way first: I am a devout Christian and as such I do believe that homosexuality is morally objectionable.  At the same time, though, I am strongly against any government passing a law prohibiting the rights of gays.  The reason is simple, morality should not be legislated.  Government cannot dictate what is and what is not moral.  As much as they’d probably like to be, governments are not gods.

Now you may object saying that if government should not legislate moral concerns then how can such obviously wrong things like murder and theft be outlawed.  The difference is that these sort of things actually fall under the jurisdiction of government.  You see, the role of a government to to be a protectorate of the people.  They are protecting people and property by prosecuting those who would do harm to their neighbors.

So what, then, should be done about gay marriage by Christians?  Well the first thing that Christians should remember is their Biblical mandate to love and respect all people (including homosexuals) and they would also do well to remember that we are forbidden to judge those outside the fold of the Church:

Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
- Matthew 7:1-2

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
- 1 Corinthians 5:12

We tend to forget that marriage was not always under the jurisdiction of the government.  There was a time when the institution of marriage was purely the concern of religious communities.  The government recognition is more for the purposes of taxes and social benefits than sacred vows.  If the Church does not believe that gays should be wed then all that needs to be done is for the Church not to marry them.  Beyond that they need give little concern to what the government declares them to be.  Furthermore, when you allow governments to overstep their legislative boundaries in such a way the primary consequence is that government is given legal president to dictate matters of faith by force of law.  One only needs to look at history to see how this can quickly go awry.

As with any opinion I state on this blog, I could be mistaken.  Those are simply the conclusions I have reached so far.  How about you?