A Word on the First Amendment and the Acts of the Apostles

"About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat."

"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."

The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."

- Acts of the Apostles 10: 9 - 15

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

- First Amendment to the United States Constitution

Anti-gay rights activists often use religious justification for their views. God is against homosexual behavior, they say, it's in plain black and white. Let's see if that's true. People with Bibles like to quote them to their advantage, so I see nothing wrong with cracking open the good book to see if there's anything in there.

True, Leviticus 20:13 seems pretty explicit: "And if a man lie with mankind, as with womankind, both of them have committed abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."

But the entire trend of the Bible points in a different direction, especially if we take something out of the atheist playbook - a modification of the problem of evil.

Atheists say God can't exist because there is evil in the world. By definition, God must be all-powerful and all-good. If God can prevent evil but doesn't, he is not good. If he can't prevent evil, he's not all-powerful.

Fast forward to issues of homosexuality. God created the world and everything in it. In fact, man was made in his image. So, if God created someone to be homosexual, than he or she is naturally good, because he or she was made that way by God. I think the above passage from Acts, which deals with Kosher food laws, is also apt.

The Kosher laws list all types of impure and unclean things that people should not eat. In Peter's vision, God says, "Nonsense. Would I make something unclean or impure?" In other words, if God made it, it's good, so chow down Pedro.

Or if God made Johnny like James, and James likes Johnny, then why shouldn't they be together?

That's a religious argument, which I think is very interesting, but is actually irrelevant to the current political debate over gay marriage in the United States. Marriage has been, since its inception, a religious event. I believe it should stay that way, and that when government becomes involved in marriage, it is in violation of the first amendment.

I don't think government should ever be able to decide who's married and who isn't. Why not give the same tax and hospital benefits to straight and gay couples through "civil unions" and leave "marriage" to the church, where it belongs.

That way everyone is equal under the law, and the sanctity of marriage is protected. It seems like a fair compromise that gives everyone what they deserve, and actually retracts the power of government ever so slightly. Which is why it will never happen, but hey, this is just a word after all.