Same Sex Cheeseburgers

Rabbi Brian over at Street Prophets posted this excellent analogy last year and I just wanted to share it here.

Same Sex Cheeseburgers
by Rabbi Brian

Wed Jun 27, 2007 at 11:31:15 AM PDT

Same Sex Marriage as a Bacon-Double Cheeseburger.

Many Americans will not eat pork. Many Americans site biblical injunctions as their reasoning for not eating pork. And, many Americans will not eat pork for other religious or health reasons as well.

Nonetheless, in America the sale of bacon is still legal.

Similarly, there are Americans who interpret the biblical prohibition against boiling a kid in its mother's milk as meaning that they should not consume milk and meat in the same meal. But it is still legal for Americans who enjoy milkshakes with their cheeseburgers to do so.

The Bible is not and must not be the basis upon which laws of this country are made. The basis of the laws of this country are to be found in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as well as the hearts of our elected and appointed representatives.

Why shouldn't we use the Bible as a basis for our laws? Because our society is thousands of years more complex than that of Biblical days. Because the Bible tolerates slavery, the slaying of disobedient children, and ownership of women. Moreover, countries in which religious doctrine is used as the basis of law have been governments that the United States of America has historically opposed.

Consequently, any citation of the Bible with regard to the civil law of marriage especially with regard to same-sex marriage, is moot.

Simply put: much like those who believe that God doesn't want them to eat dairy and meat simultaneously abstain from eating bacon-double cheeseburgers, if you disapprove of homosexual unions, don't enter into one.

With love,

Rabbi Brian

Permanent link to this article is here.

For The Bible Tells Me So

I just learned about this new movie by Writer-director-producer Daniel Karslake called "For The Bible Tells Me So". It is currently making the rounds in select cities and I encourage everyone that is interested in such themes to go check it out. Although I think it's target audience is really the mainstream, Christian fundamentalists or those that are still sitting on the fence.

This film has already won several awards at various film festivals. And based on some of the reviews I've read for the film so far, it promises to be an excellent film to open the dialog among those that fail to take into account the social and economic environment and the time period from which the modern bible was written.

Here's a link to a list of all cities where this movie is currently screening:
http://www.forthebibletellsmeso.org/screening.htm

The main website for this movie is here:
http://www.forthebibletellsmeso.org/

Watch the trailer for this film here:



FILM SYNOPSIS
Can the love between two people ever be an abomination? Is the chasm separating gays and lesbians and Christianity too wide to cross? Is the Bible an excuse to hate?

Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival, Dan Karslake's provocative, entertaining documentary brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible. As the film notes, most Christians live their lives today without feeling obliged to kill anyone who works on the Sabbath or eats shrimp (as a literal reading of scripture dictates).

Through the experiences of five very normal, very Christian, very American families -- including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson -- we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. Informed by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard's Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and
sexual identity.