In case you haven’t heard, a new law that goes into effect in April in England prohibits discrimination in “goods, facilities, and services on the basis of sexual orientation.”  This new law has the Catholic and Anglican churches’ panties in a wad because it would force them to allow gay people to adopt children.  They have threatened to scuttle their entire adoption programs if they are not exempted.  For now it seems that Blair will not side with the churches.

First of all, I don’t think government should interject themselves into the affairs of private organizations, such as churches.  Individuals and organizations should not be compelled to conform to the government’s definition of morality.  If this were America and the churches were found to be violating the constitutional rights of gay couple then that would be another story.

The reaction of the churches highlights what I feel is a grave shortcoming of modern day Christianity: the dramatic amplification of the “sin” of homosexuality (among others) above and beyond many other more explicitly spelled out wrongs.  Homosexuality didn’t even merit a top ten ranking on Moses’ stone tablets.  In my readings of the Bible I noticed countless references to helping the poor and those who cannot help themselves.  I scarcely recall instances where homosexual lifestyle was condemned and many of the passages cited by anti-gay zealots are dubious at best.  In keeping with the Christian spirit the churches should realize that the children would be better off if they were to be adopted by caring people, gay or straight.  How do you rationalize “punishing” (an action that most Christians will be quick to tell you should be set aside for God) a gay couple by depriving a child of a better life?

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This entry was posted by Brian on Wednesday, January 24th, 2007 at 11:17 pm and is filed under Government, News & Opinion, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.