posted by amanda on Jun 8
In case you just crawled out from under your rock 
ABC News: Senate Rejects Amendment on Gay Marriage
My recent reading of Dumbing Us Down has really shaped my thoughts on this ban. The whole book has changed the way that I look at legislation, but the last chapter was what really made me start thinking.
As I shared yesterday, Gatto asserts that when you order change in behavior then what actually happens it that people appear to change and yet they harbor a huge amount of resentment and end up exacting vengence in a way far worse than if you had allowed the community to change outside of legislation. He backs this up with data about racism, patriarchy, drug use, and alcoholism.
I was thinking back on his theory today as my dh and I talked about the gay marriage ban, and I couldn’t help but agree with Mr. Gatto. Any way that I played out the scenario, it still wouldn’t really accomplish its set “goal”.
So here are my thoughts. I am assuming one big thing here: that it is almost exclusively (or at least a majority of) Christians who are in favor of this ban. My responses are what I would say to any fellow Christian.
1. If the ban were to pass and gay marriage was banned.
Would anything really change? Gay families would still be living together. The sin would still be happening. Even if the ban were somehow able to stop homosexual behavior (which is pretty ridiculous to even assume) then it is still a “bass-ackwards” way to solve the problem of sin. How many times do Christians tell people that they don’t need to be perfect to come to Christ? How many times are we told in the Bible that we can’t expect people of the world to live sinless lives? We all need God’s grace, and we are given it “while we were still sinners.” The change in life comes after salvation, not before.
What about Christians who are homosexual and would wish to get married?
I don’t think this would change anything either. As the band Hangnail says in their song “No Name Yet” (a song about abortion, btw)
Those man-made laws don’t mean a thing
It doesn’t matter what man says - what matters is what God says. If Christians are already choosing to sin in this area, do you think a man made law will change it?
2. If the ban doesn’t pass
Is marriage really threatened because there isn’t a ban on gay marriage? If you want to protect marriage, maybe we should have a ban on living together. Maybe a ban on sex outside of marriage would help. Some Christians would probably like a ban on hand holding. That leads to sex… don’t you know?
So really I think this ban is irrelevant no matter what eventually happens. We can’t change people’s hearts by force, and if we want to ban sins, then we’ve got a long list to get going on…