To the members of the Pflugerville ISD,
My name is Jim Rigby, I am pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on Wells Branch Parkway.
I have come here tonight to thank you for your recent decision to offer domestic partnership rights to all the people who serve schools in our community.
I understand there are clergy in our area who oppose your decision. I respect my Christian brothers and sisters and affirm their religious liberty to say publically what they believe to be true. Where I disagree with them is when they believe they have a right to force their religion interpretations into the public sphere and to deny others the same rights they would claim for themselves.
My understanding of Christianity is fundamentally different from my brothers and sisters who believe homosexuality is a sin. I have never found any teaching of Jesus that prohibits homosexuality, but I have found plenty that tell me not to judge my neighbor. I have a direct commandment from my savior to treat my neighbors the way I would want to be treated, and when my neighbors are attacked unjustly, I feel I have a duty to rise to their side.
When my Christian brothers and sisters attack my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, when they constantly criticize their families, when they demean the faithful love these people have for one another, when they come into this public sphere to deny domestic partner benefits because they don’t approve of how my brothers and sisters live, they are not exercising their own religious liberty, they are infringing on the liberty of others.
Earlier today the Defense of Marriage Act, prohibiting same sex marriage, was struck down as unconstitutional in a federal appeals court. This was inevitable. One indispensable element of our American democracy is “inalienable rights.” “Inalienable” means they can’t be put up for a vote. Our Declaration of Independence says every person is born with inalienable rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Every person in this room has rights that cannot be overridden no matter what the majority says. So we are not discriminating against the majority when we insist that unpopular minorities must receive the same rights as everyone else.
I wish the church would stand up for persecuted minorities, but since we often don’t, and since we sometimes are even the source of persecution, I’m glad there are those of you here who stand up for all the people who live and work in our community.
Jesus once summarized his entire teaching as being a good neighbor. I have come here tonight because, by offering the same rights to all the people who work for our schools, you have been a good neighbor. And, as one who attempts to follow Jesus, I wanted to say “thank you.”
Dear Jim – Jesus did say something that has given me much cause for reflection and reshaped my understanding of marriage. He said in essence that there two basic rules for life. One is Loving the Lord God with all heart, mind and soul, and two, loving the one close to you as much as you love yourself. These rules, of course, did not originate with Jesus, but were part of his tradition. What he said about them, however (this is the mind-boggling part to me – and so like Jesus) is that All Law (presumably anywhere and everywhere – state, national, international, natural, cosmic, etc. as well as marriage law) hangs on these two laws. I have come to see marriage as an exercise in and prototype of Rule#2! No mention of man-woman exclusivity here, but simply loving the Other is enough of a challange, especially in our Ego-centric world.
Thanks for the continued discussion, but I’ve run out of words and am a slow typist. Peace and love to you for carrying the flag of love/justice. …………Dick Siebenlist
Well done…very well done!
Bill and Ginny
1 Corinthians 6: 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous[b] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,[c] 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Yuppieje,
The word translated there as “homosexual” does not have a clear definition. Since Greek did not have a word for “homosexual” it is a dubious practice to use the English word as if they did. If the intent of a translation is to capture the meaning of the speaker, we should not project our own concepts onto the text. If you will get a good concordance, and do an honest word study, you will discover that you are letting a cultural prejudice warp your understanding of scripture.
Jim