Two Reverends Give Competing Views of Christianity and Marriage (1994)

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ability to protect her You know We can get very advanced in talking about this, but I think many people say But is it right people are still saying is homosexual right and should we make law around it to to To support it and we look often to the church for answers And I tell you it is not possible to get one clear answer from the church on this we have to A father a priest and a pastor here with different opinions Would you please explain to us what your beliefs are? Let's start with you father. Well, thank you I I come at this from several different angles one I'm the parent of four adopted children all of my children are adopted and I would resent the Daylights out of any law that said that I could not because they were adopted treat them as as The children of a natural biological union It would distress me because now I have six grandchildren and Our whole life is going on It seems to me that the the the position of the state in this is is

over simplistic it leads out leaves out all of the areas of of of health of The building up of a state not simply the passing on of it that that a Couple committed to each other no matter what the the sexual orientation of the partners is a stable Stabilizing unit in society This is our bulwark against promiscuity against prostitution against all of the things that people very often in the straight world complain about and and Criticize in the gay world and and here there is tremendous opportunity to to to make strides for the Betterment of all of society it would seem to me as well as the strengthening of of love unions between committed people and For some reason the legislature wants to to back off on this I understand it's tough to be on the cutting edge But I'm proud of our state for for being out there on the cutting edge Do your parishioners agree with your point of view and does the Episcopal

Church take this position as well my church the Episcopal Church? Just like I think probably all major denominations is pretty well split We have Many different opinions about this It's based in the way we accept the Bible is this the in in errant word of God so that we can pick out a few phrases that that seem to to justify condemning homosexual practices and build a whole theology and sociology on that or are we believers in the Commandment to love one another as we believe our Lord loved us and forgive and heal and go on Committed to both truth and love I feel like they have to balance one another out And if you compromise truth for the sake of love Then you will have plenty of love, but you've sacrificed truth same way if you compromise love and just say well We need to love everyone and not be so concerned about truth

To me there's a very deep truth that's involved here and the question needs to be raised Do governments who invented marriage whose idea was in the beginning? I'm convinced it was God's idea I'm convinced that he created male and female and Even if a person doesn't believe in God or doesn't believe in the Bible It seems to me all they have to do is look at nature itself and realize that Homosexuality is against nature and I believe God did that for a good reason God loves people and he wants he set his boundaries to protect them and that's one of the boundaries and I believe that Practically speaking as we look at our society today and the disintegration of the family. That's what I'm concerned about I feel like Passage of same -sex marriage would further confuse people as to what a family is We've seen the breakdown of families in the last 30 years We've seen the results

of that in our society and I believe that we need to rather than legitimizing Homosexuality by sanctioning same -sex marriages We need to affirm traditional marriages because I believe those are the building blocks of society have been through the ages And I believe they'll continue to be We have a lot of questions by the way that are being called in and a lot of them have to do with

Two Reverends Give Competing Views of Christianity and Marriage (1994)

Opposition to marriage equality often came from conservative Christians, but not all Christians opposed marriage for same-sex couples. This episode of Dialog, a call-in show that aired on PBS Hawaii in 1994, sheds light on the complex role religion could play in the debate. The Hawaiian Supreme Court had recently ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, and this episode gathered four panelists, including two Christian reverends, to comment on the issue. The first speaker, an Episcopal minister named Layton Zimmer, argued that same-sex marriage promoted social stability, and more generally, that acceptance of gay and lesbian people aligned with the Christian message of love. The second speaker, Reverend Ron Arnold (of Kaimuki Christian Church, a non-denominational church) channeled arguments often associated with the Christian conservatism: that the government should uphold traditional morality rather than normalizing a sinful behavior like homosexuality. Both reverends reference anxieties about sexual behavior that were often expressed in the early 1990s. Zimmer notes that gay men were often criticized for being promiscuous rather than monogamous, while Arnold laments the “disintegration of the family.”

Dialog; Same-Sex Marriage | KHET : Honolulu, HI | February 11, 1994 | This video clip and associated transcript appear from 19:47 - 24:15 in the full record.

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