Dear Hema,
Two high profile politicians have put forward very woolly thinking as reason for supporting so called gay marriage.
Malcolm Turnbull and now this week the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key say they are supporters because it won't impact on their marriages to Lucy and Bronagh respectively.
Imagine if this was the test for public policy - the impact a particular measure had on an MP's private life. Policy making would be a mess.
But by thinking myopically, Turnbull and Key can completely ignore the impacts on children, freedom of speech and freedom of religion that will flow from changing the definition of marriage.
Some of the best thinking about how Christians should engage politics comes from our Roman Catholic friends. Charles J Chaput is Archbishop-designate of Philadelphia in the United States.
In his book Render unto Caesar, he says of politics:
“Issues matter. Character matters. Acting on principle matters. The sound bite and slogan do not matter. They belong to the vocabulary of the herd, and human beings deserve better. Real freedom demands an ability to think, and a great deal of modern life seems deliberately designed to discourage that.”
If ever there was a debate conducted in the vocabulary of the herd, it is the debate to redefine marriage. “Equal love” and “marriage equality” are the slogans but what do they mean?
Very little thought and debate has occurred on the consequences of redefining marriage. Turnbull and Key’s straw-man arguments miss the point and show an inability to think.
Meanwhile a website set up in New Zealand to protect marriage was attacked and taken off line temporarily.
If gay activists on both sides of the Tasman were really interested in tolerance and diversity, they would be condemning this attack on free speech.
If we wish to preserve marriage, we are going to have to do some better thinking as a society and then have the courage to act on our principles.
Kind regards,
Lyle Shelton
