Religion and Freedom

It is 5:43 in the morning, and I thought Lewis had gotten out of bed to use the bathroom, so I was immediately alert.  Right now, all is quiet on the upper bedroom front, but of course, when you wake up this early in the morning, it almost inevitably ends with me being unable to go back to sleep.

As I lay thinking in bed, I started pondering about what the Supreme Court is debating about marriage equality.  Yeah, really light thinking for this time of the morning. :)  I started to think about how I would vote if the state of West Virginia ever decided to propose a Defense of Marriage Act.  Now, I can tell you that this would overwhelmingly pass since my state is very socially conservative.  However, how would I decide to vote?

My church strongly believes in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman.  It is even in our Proclamation to the Family which was published in the 1990s.  I believe this tenet, and I believe that God has ordained the eternal family to be composed of a man, woman, and their children.  I went into my temple marriage with those beliefs.  

However, I don't believe that it is my right as a US Citizen to enforce my beliefs on those around me who do not believe in the LDS faith, Jesus, or even God for that matter.  I still find it unbelievable that some men and women are being fired because they are gay.  Their being gay does not infringe on my religious beliefs.  If we extend the rights of non-discrimination and civil marriage...or however you want to call it...to those people, how is this interfering with how I define my own personal beliefs of marriage?  

I get the feeling that so many conservative Christians are afraid to embrace anyone in America who believe differently than them.  You don't speak English?  Learn it.  You are gay?  You don't get the same rights as I do.  If we as Christians can learn to embrace a society that is composed of all different types of people, while still holding to the beliefs and standards we hold sacred, then I think as a nation we can finally gain a feeling of peace.  It is when we try to force people into our cookie-cutter definition of what is an acceptable American that it breeds feelings of intolerance and fear.

I might be judged at the last day for believing how I do.  If I am, so be it.  As a church, we are instructed to vote the dictates of our heart, which I feel is to extend the same rights to all Americans.  I could not vote for something that goes against the very core fiber of who I am as a person.   

I will be very interested to see what the Supreme Court decides and what the resulting backlash will be. 

~Sandy