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My take – the Australian same sex marriage poll result
WARNING This post
contains material upholding a traditional view of marriage. It is long, because
the issues and the Australian context are complex. It is also a personal view.
The immediate context
Christians may
prefer to talk about other things, but we cannot avoid same sex marriage (SSM)
for it is a hot topic. A Christianity that is silent on the issues of its day
is about as useful as a quill pen in a digital age.
Australia recently
had a national postal poll on whether SSM should be allowed by law. The poll
was unduly divisive and prolonged in my view. It happened because of a messy
political compromise within the governing political coalition. The poll process
has not been a great moment in the history of the nation.
Participation was
high (79.5%) and the result (announced on 15th November 2017) was a vote
of 61.6% (of those who voted) in favour of legalising SSM.
Yet to come is a
legislative and political process. I expect the legalisation of SSM sooner or
later as both major political parties seem ready to wave it through.
In this post, I
summarise the immediate context and give a response under the headings
indicated below.
What’s my angle?
What’s my angle?
I write as
an Australian by birth and citizenship. I am Christian by identity and
heterosexual by orientation. I am interested in Australian affairs but have a
love / hate relationship with the nation. Like the prophet Jeremiah or the
Apostle Paul, I feel pain for the nation of which I am part (eg Jer 8:18 – 9:1; 14: 19–22; Rom 9;1-3; 10:1), even though the citizenship that
matters is elsewhere (eg Phil 3:20). I could easily live in another country and
my sense of home in Australia is temporal and weak. I feel a stranger and
exile.
What follows is my
take on the prospective legalisation of SSM in Australia, within a broader
canvas of issues.
Same sex attraction
and activity
As a Christian
believer who tries to take the Bible seriously, I cannot endorse same sex
activity or SSM.
We were designed for
opposite-sex attraction and activity. This is to pair off as male and female
couples (Gen 2:18-25) in committed and lifelong relationships of love, delight
and wonder (eg, Song of Songs). Same sex attraction is fundamentally against
this creational design. Like heterosexual attraction, same-sex attraction can
become a strong pull and temptation to sinful sexual activity. Any sexual relationship
outside of God’s design is sinful, whether heterosexual or homosexual. It draws
God’s judgement, along with theft, greed, drunkenness, extortion and such like
(1 Cor 6:9-10). Sexual sins (again, whether homo or hetero) are in the most
serious category of sin (eg 1 Cor 6:18) because of the role of sex in human
identity. The good news is that all sexual sin can be repented of and forgiven
(1 Cor 6:11), along with greed, drunkenness, theft and the like.
Some clarification
of emphasis is important.
I acknowledge the
reality of same sex attraction and that same sex relationships can display high
levels of altruistic love and commitment. Same sex attraction does not have to
result in same sex activity (any more that opposite sex attraction must result
in sexual activity). I know of same-sex people in settled, loving, supportive domestic
partnerships that may involve sharing a residence, but without sexual activity.
There is something winsome about that – just as with opposite sex people who
have similar partnerships. Such people can give each other a warm companionship
that meets the truth that it is not good for a person to be alone (Gen 2:18). I
am not naïve about the possibility of these companionships sliding into
sexualised relationships (whether hetero or homosexual) and the need to guard
against it in ways appropriate to each those involved,. However, and again, the
fact of same sex attraction and a relationship of loving companionship is
different to sexualised activity.
Secondly, most sexual sin in Australia is heterosexual and should
receive proportionate attention. There’s a certain double standard in opposing same
sex relationships with high attention while being silent about heterosexual
activity outside of God’s creational design. I ‘get it’ that because SSM is on
the present agenda, there is more attention to same sex relationships. However,
the point remains that most sexual sin is not homosexual.
Same sex marriage
All the above
means that, as a Christian who follows the Bible I cannot endorse SSM. It is
the institutionalising of a relationship that is against the creational design
summarised above.
Consequently, I
will not participate in, or attend a SSM marriage, even if involving dear
friends or family members, for whom I want happiness. I cannot do anything that
could be read as approving of or endorsing their wedding. The same would apply
if a Christian friend or family member wanted to marry against God’s design in
a heterosexual marriage (but that is a topic outside of this post).
At a practical
level I can and will, treat same sex couples as a household unit, but I cannot
endorse their relationship. I will doubtless be clumsy in expressing this and
apologise in advance. I don’t want to be judgemental towards such couples, but
from love of God and people, I cannot endorse what is against God’s design and
against their human flourishing.
SSM – the questions
The above is my take on same sex attraction and
marriage in Christian perspective. However, the question of legal recognition
of SSM in Australia and how Christians relate to that, is a quite different
matter. The distinction between those questions has not always been clear in
the recent Australian debate and that is not helpful.
So, let’s think about the Australian context and then
about how Australian Christians relate to it both more generally and with
respect to the prospect of SSM being legalised.
SSM marriage – the Australian religious context
Christianity was not our first religion and is now not
the only one.
So far as we know, the first peoples of Australia are
the various Aboriginal tribes that have inhabited the land for a long time.
After various fringe contacts with European explorers, their land was claimed and
then colonised by Great Britain in 1770 and 1778. Aboriginal culture was deeply
spiritual, with a vivid sense of relationship to spirits, to departed ancestors
and to the land.
The British settlers brought the nation’s second
religion. Their Christianity was a by-product of Britain’s long Christian
heritage as immediately impacted by the eighteenth century evangelical revival.
An Anglican chaplain arrived with the first fleet and set the scene for the
early ascendency of Protestant Christianity. This was soon challenged by the arrival
of Irish Roman Catholics and then by migration of people of various world religions.
Increasing numbers of Australians came to identify as of no religion.
The 2016 census gives a snapshot. (www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/2016).
·
Christianity
– 52%
·
No
religion – 30%
·
Islam –
2.6%
·
Buddhism
– 2.4%
The “no religion” category is rapidly increasing (eg,
it was 19% in 2006) and is especially prominent among the young. Australia is fast
becoming a secular country.
Of those identifying as Christian, the number who are
active Christians is much less. An active Christian positively and personally holds
to the core elements of something like the Apostles Creed, regularly attends worship,
engages in some form of personal devotion and seeks to live life under the
saving kingship of Jesus Christ. My guess is that only about 5% of the
population fit that description.
The Constitution of Australia says: The Commonwealth shall not
make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious
observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no
religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public
trust under the Commonwealth (Section 116).
That seems to separate church and state.
Despite this, Christian churches have a significant
place in Australian public life. The Federal Parliament opens its session by
the mandated recitation of Christian prayer. Church buildings are physically
prominent. Churches have privileged position with respect to taxation. Clergy
often appear at events such as ANZAC Day. In some states, churches have
generous access to public schools for religious education. In my view these are
vestige veneers that mark increasing secularisation that will fade away. They
hint at a Christendom view of how Christians relate to society which I doubt is
ever appropriate and certainly not one that fits with contemporary Australia.
My point here is that Australia is not a Christian country
now and probably has never been one. In this respect, I think that Roy Williams
overstates his case (see his 2015 book, Post
God Nation). Australian history and culture have certainly been heavily
influenced by Christianity by circumstances of British settlement and that will
always be part of the national legacy. However, that is very different to the
assertion of a Christian identity, in the sense of Britain as a Christian
country or that of ancient Israel as a nation of covenant Judaism.
Contemporary Australia is a religiously diverse
country and one in which secularism has a rising cultural impact that probably
exceeds its locked-in adherents. We are a multi-everything society. How does
that relate to the possibility of legislation permitting SSM? To what extent is
it a Christian agenda to advocate for legislation embodying specifically
Christian values?
SSM - enacting Christian legislation
Legislation embodies moral values. For example, legislation to raise taxes to provide for pensions for the needy assumes a
collective social responsibility to care for needy people. Legislation against
theft, assumes a moral right to private property and its protection.
This is a topic for others, but I see a difference
between legislation reflecting broader moral values (that may arise from a
religion) and legislation specifically privileging and embodying distinctly
religious values.
For example, when the Roman Emperor Constantine
professed to become Christian in the early fourth century, he enacted
legislation design to embody Christian values as well as legislation
privileging the Catholic Church. His laws relating to infanticide and
manumission of slaves laws reflected broader Christian values as distinct from
his legislation to privilege the Catholic Church and its clergy.
Reflection of broader Christian values has continued
in the western legislative tradition in Europe, Britain and the associated
colonies. Much of that western tradition is now being dismantled under growing
secularisation in multi-everything societies.
Should Australian Christians push to protect, or even to
extend, the Christian elements in Australian law in matters like SSM?
Behind that there lies a broader question of Christ
and culture. (Richard Niebuhr’s 1951 book by that name continues to frame the
debate). Historically, western Protestant Christians have been located
somewhere between Christ over culture and
Christ transforming culture. In a post-Christian Australia, it’s a moot
point as to whether Christ against
culture is appropriate. This is also a time when some wonder whether an
exile theology which is inspired by 1 Pet 1:1 and patterned after Joseph in
Egypt, along with Daniel and Esther in Babylon is appropriate. That also is a
wide and complex question and beyond this paper.
Christians living as minorities in countries that have
never had a significant Christian presence experience a different life. They
have always lived as strangers and exiles. They have always faced the calling
of the Biblical Joseph, Daniel and Esther – to live in a way that blesses the
city and to flourish where God has planted them, even when that city embodies a
God-defying and God-denying identity. I write these words from a conference
where many attendees live with the reality of state-sanctioned persecution,
just because they live under a different master to the ruling ideology. They
are strangers and exiles to a strong degree. To these people, Australia is a
quaint curiosity and they wonder what all the fuss is about. I have a faint
taste of their experience from several years living in a country where other
religions supplied the dominant world view.
Christians can live as exiles by acting differently to
others around them and still be positive members of their society, just like
Joseph, Daniel and Esther. Right now, Australian Christians have much to learn
from the majority Christian world where there has never been a cosy cocoon of Christian
legislative.
Responding to legalisation of SSM
I voted no from love of God and people. Those loves
include a view that human and societal flourishing happens best when life is
lived within God’s design and from a concern for children and the possible
re-norming of cultural values under SSM. I respect the liberty of consenting
adults to do what they want to do in their bedrooms (even if disagreeing with
it), but am concerned that the impacts of their actions go far beyond the
bedroom.
How do we respond to legislation legalising SSM if,
and when, it comes? I expect and hope for Christian representation to help
ensure maximum protection for freedom of conscience, expression and action for
those dissenting from SSM marriage. This needs to happen at the stage of
drafting parliamentary Bills.
At a church level, there will be debate about
continuance as a recognised denomination under the Marriage Act. Some propose
withdrawal and the establishment of church-based marriage register (with
provision for church divorce courts). I disagree with that. I favour church
withdrawal as a recognised denomination under the Marriage Act, the
de-recognition of clergy as marriage celebrants and a situation where churches
conduct a service of wedding blessing after civil registration. This is a
common pattern in Europe and elsewhere and separates the legal institution of
marriage from the Christian one.
A sense of perspective is important. SSM is a moral and spiritual issue of major
significance and I cannot agree with those Christians who are indifferent about
it. However,
it is not a catastrophic issue and not the only, or even the major, issue on
the national moral landscape.
The continuing easy access to abortion in Australia is a life and death issue,
as is the prospect of legalised euthanasia. There are significant moral issues in
our treatment of asylum seekers, climate policy, income distribution and care
of indigenous persons. Our moral landscape is littered with challenges to
Christian values.
My point here is that legalisation of SSM is not the end
of the moral world in Australia. If a Bill passes, I expect a tsunami of
rainbow jubilation. I expect a flurry of SSM marriages with high publicity. I
expect some test cases as to the bounds of religious exemptions. And then an
ongoing process with some social re-norming and a gradual adjustment of behaviours.
Somewhere in all that, SSM married couples will start having troubles and
heading for divorce courts. Life will settle down in a changed landscape. But
marriage will not be the same.
Nor is SSM the most significant Christian issue for Australia.
I frame the issue through Rom 1:18-32. Homosexual activity is mentioned there as something that draws God’s judgement (Rom
1:26-27), but it is not the root issue.
Rather it is part of a chain of events that goes back to a rejection of
the creator himself (Rom 1:18-23) and which results in a cascading series of
events where God gives us over to our darker side, one part of which is
homosexual activity. Whether the manifestation of our rejection of God is
debased sexuality (whether homo or hetero), or greed, of physical idolatry, or
heart idolatry, the result is the same. We are all fallen short of God, all
under judgement, all equally in need of salvation, and can all equally be
forgiven and restored if we repent and believe in Jesus (Rom 3:9-26). Debased
sexuality is just one fruit of the Fall and example of human sin.
Australian
Christians must talk about SSM at present because that is the issue of the day.
We cannot ignore it. But let’s talk about it and act on it in a way that is
faithful to what God says about human sexuality and with a sense of proportion
about the issue. The great need of Australians is to avert God’s judgement
through faith in Jesus Christ. Getting our sexuality in order, including on
SSM, flows and follows from that.
Finally
Thanks for reading this long personal post on a tough
topic. I welcome conversation, so please hit the ‘reply’ button and let’s talk.
