Lately, Chic-Fil-A has been in the news because of their CEO's stance on homosexual marriage. It seems everyone with a keyboard and half a mind has commented, so I figured why not me too.
So, my religious stance is that homosexuality is a sin. Also sins: lying, stealing, coveting (wanting something that's not yours), holding something higher than God (I'm looking at you money), the love of money (root of all evil). And, it turns out, many more things are sins as well...
Leviticus 18:22 (CEB) - You must not have sexual intercourse with a man as you would with a woman; it is a detestable practice
Leviticus 19:11 (ESV) - You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.
How about this one, for all my lawyer friends?
Lev19:15 - You shall do no injustice in court.
How about my farmer friends?
Lev19:19 - [...] You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.
That last part is tricky - means most of our clothes make us sinners.
Now, the argument could be made that lying and stealing and coveting are actions that you have a choice in, and some say homosexuality is not a choice. Well...
How about Lev. chapter 15. It's all about bodily discharges being a sin, and if you touch a bed where it's happened, that's also makes you unclean. And if a person gets spit on by a person who touched the bed of a man who "discharged", that person is also unclean. That's the man side of things, there's also lots about women and menstruation being unclean.
So what's my point?
Sin is all equal in God's eyes. We are all sinners, and so us who lie are the same as those who are gay, in God's eyes. But God loves us enough to overlook these sins. And He tell us (John 13:34) to love one another (and I would add, despite these sins we all have).
Summary thus far - I believe homosexuality is a sin, but it's no worse than all the other sins out there, and I need to still love the person.
But so far, that has nothing to do with Chic-fil-a or politics.
I support Chic-fil-A, because I believe a person has the right to speak his opinion (see Amendment #1 to the US Constitution). Ands Chic-Fil-A has never shied away from publicly acknowledging that they are a company based on Judeo-Christian values. I also like their chicken. Can a company stand up and say something supportive of homosexuality? Sure - I just don't have to agree with them. Same can be said about Islam, Hindu, Buddhism, or even non-religious things like socialism or that Batman is better than Superman (he's not).
Where I have a problem is trying to make all of the above political. I don't want my government (be that city, state or federal) to get involved with my religion. I don't want them to make laws to enforce some Judeo-Christian values but not others, because I think that's unfair and not showing love to everyone. If we say that the government has the right to ban homosexuality because it's a sin and morally objectionable (as determined by the Bible), does that also give them the right to ban menstruation? I know that's a bit of a stretch, but I think the logic is sound.
Summary, part deux-
I don't have to like it, and I don't support it, but I also don't like or support the government getting involved in it.
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