Last words on Prop 8. (I promise)

The stance that I have taken towards Proposition 8 has generated a lot of bewilderment, suspicion and well meaning inquiry among those within my close circle of friends and family. While most have tried to be understanding, some responses have left me with an unsettling feeling. Given that LDS church leaders have recently taken a definitive stance in favor of the proposition, my alignment on the opposite end of the spectrum has caused others to directly question my faith on more than one occasion. Part of that has been my inability to completely explain my position in a clear manner. I am going to try my best to explain here and then I promise to put the issue to rest in both my public and private conversations, unless my view is elicited.

As hard as it is for many to come to grips with, we are no longer a Christian nation. We are a Christian, Jewish, atheist, Muslim, Hindu and agnostic nation (Sorry to the hundreds of groups I left off). There is no getting around that we live in a pluralistic society. As an active Latter Day I simultaneously exist in two domains. One being the private realm comprised of my deeply personal faith and the other a public realm in which I am a small cog making up part of our larger pluralistic society. Both domains are not amenable to the same rules and involve differing paths to obtaining truth.

While I may believe strongly in it, my faith is deeply personal. It is based on experiences and beliefs that can neither be concretely proved nor disproved by my neighbor. Given that religious beliefs are highly subjective, I can’t expect what I have found to be true to be taken as binding on somebody who not had my same spiritual experiences. In the realm of public policy and law, my decisions and votes must be subject to argument and be grounded in common reason understood by society at large. It requires that I speak in terms that are accessible to those making up our pluralistic society. In other words, I can’t simply claim that I am against gay marriage or abortion based on the authority that God said so or that my church leaders told me to and expect that argument to hold any weight in the public realm. In this case, in my mind it is a perfectly acceptable position to disagree with something, yet feel that it should be legal.

I recognize that it is perfectly possible for one to reason that gay marriage will not be a positive for society and I can respect that. Most arguments I have heard revolve around heterosexual marriage being undermined and threatened by the would be institution of gay marriage. I personally find those claims unconvincing. I rather feel that traditional marriage is threatened and undermined by heterosexual couples who don’t take their marriage commitments seriously. What’s actually under attack is the traditional definition of marriage, not marriage itself. I have discussed my empathetic views on gay issues in previous posts and don’t want to expound on them here, just want to make the point that abiding by my rules of conduct in the public sphere I cannot justify support for Proposition 8.

I am put off when religion enters into politics and likewise when the chapel becomes an arena of political discourse. I have nothing but the utmost respect and appreciation for the leaders of my church and believe they are inspired, but I find it necessary to compartmentalize my religion from politics.