Showing posts with label gay marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gay marriage. Show all posts

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Joy for Ireland: the rainbow connection





Joy: Ireland is on the verge of a historic change


Rainbows have been photographed over Dublin as Ireland becomes the first country to permit gay marriage via a popular vote.

Dozens of pictures of the rainbows were posted online as the country chose to permit sex marriage through a referendum.

One Twitter user said the beautiful rainbows were a sign that gay marriage got Jesus's vote.

With 39 constituencies declared, the Yes vote is 62.3% and No 37.7%.

The number of Yes votes is 1,128,209, with 682,932 votes for No.

There are three constituencies still to declare - Cork North West, Cork South West and Cork East.





Key campaign groups fighting the reform conceded defeat before any formal declarations.

The referendum now paves the way for the necessary laws to be passed by the summer and potentially opens the door for the first gay marriage ceremonies to be held by the end of the year.

Early on, the reform was most popular in Dublin South West with a near 71% backing.

But in Taoiseach Enda Kenny's own back yard, Co Mayo, the contest was much tighter with only 52% of voters in favour.

It is only 22 years since Ireland decriminalised homosexuality.




Voters were asked one simple, specific question on whether to amend Article 41 of the 1937 Constitution by adding a new clause to a section titled The Family.

It asked them to support or reject a change to the 78-year-old document which reads: "Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex."

It does not suggest any change to the definition of the family or remove any outdated references in the section, including those that state a woman's place is at home.

If passed, it would be the 34th amendment to the constitution but, regardless of the result, the campaign will rank with other hotly contested issues such as divorce and abortion.




(It's written in the sky, folks. Change is coming. Get with it, or end up suffocating and choking on your poisonous old medieval Catholic dogma. Love walked in. . .and it changed everything.)



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Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Amazing grace: Kevin Rudd's act of faith




Kevin Rudd launches passionate defence of gay marriage

Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, a devout Christian, has stared down a pastor on live television and cited scripture while delivering a stirring defence of gay marriage.

In footage that has since gone viral on the internet, Mr Rudd declared that "people don't choose their sexuality" and said if The Bible were taken literally, slavery would still be legal.

His impassioned defence of his decision to throw his support behind same sex marriage came in response to a Christian pastor who asked on a chat show featuring audience questions: "Kevin, if you call yourself a Christian, why don't you believe the words of Jesus in The Bible?"

Mr Rudd, facing defeat in Australia's election on Saturday, responded: "Well mate if I was going to have that view, The Bible also says that slavery is a natural condition. Because St Paul said in the New Testament: slaves be obedient to your masters. And therefore we should have all fought for the confederacy in the US Civil War. I mean for goodness sake. The human condition and social conditions change."

Mr Rudd said be believed his decision to support gay marriage was in line with The Bible's emphasis on "universal love".

"I concluded in my conscience, through an informed conscience and a Christian conscience, it was the right thing to do," he told ABC TV's Q&A show.




This amazing four minutes is making the rounds. It proves that it's possible to have a lightbulb come on regarding your former beliefs, not just flip-flopping to garner votes but realizing in the clear light of day that human beings in all their diversity deserve compassion, understanding and a fair shake.

The glazed eyes and bolted doors apparent in the faces of the audience speak volumes about their own limited beliefs, and this misguided pastor with the ominous "Republic" shirt (?) seems ill at ease and even afraid. Rudd speaks with poise, confidence, and heartfelt conviction, and with a refreshing absence of shouting, fist-pounding and empty rhetoric. 

After studying it formally for 15 years and even teaching classes, I know my Bible pretty well, and I challenge conservative Christians to find any kind of statement from Jesus on homosexuality. It simply isn't there. And yes, Saint Paul, who could pound fists with the best of them, not only stated that slaves should obey their masters, but that wives should "submit themselves" to their husbands! Rudd didn't need to pull this one out, and to his credit he didn't, but he certainly could have. 

Does this mean we should just toss the Bible away as irrelevant to 2013 and all its multiplicity of views?  In the words of theologian Marcus Borg, it's possible to take scripture "seriously, but not literally." I think that Jesus so embodied near-unthinkable changes in human consciousness that he was put to death for it.  But who has that sort of guts, these days?