...SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE: THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S FRONT PAGE COVER STORY REGARDING PROPOSITION 8

Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Church arrogantly and freely expresses his belief that he knows what God thinks and how God feels about all sorts of human conditions. Rather than focus on the arrogance and ultimate absurdity of his presumption that God is on his side in a political struggle, I feel compelled to point out that founders of the American nation wrote into the Constitution clear cautions about making laws on the basis of religious beliefs. His assertion that the word “marriage” must be reserved exclusively for civil unions of one man with one woman because “the Bible tells him so” is no reason for intelligent, reasonable people to abandon the letter of the law and the spirit of the Constitution. The California Supreme Court has ruled that denial of the civil partnership called marriage to any group or class of people is a clear violation of the California State Constitution. It is against the law to deny gay citizens the right to marry. Pastor Garlow’s answer is to change the Constitution.

I wonder what God has told him to do about the 500 million people in Asia, Africa, and Latin America who are living in what the World Bank has called “absolute poverty.” What has God said to him about the 15 million children who die of hunger in the world every year? In “God’s world” one in twelve people worldwide is malnourished, including around 160 million children under the age of 5. Pastor Garlow is reported to have told his followers that God’s heart is broken over same-gender marriage. Does he think people won’t notice that his emphasis is misplaced and inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus? Do the Manchesters, Hoens, and others who gave big money to get Proposition 8 on the ballot not see how much more good their money could do in the world if they put it into projects to address poverty?

Equal rights for all citizens has been established as the rule of law in our state. As responsible, law-abiding citizens let’s agree in California to respect the State Constitution and to respect the rights of all citizens of our great state by voting NO on Proposition 8.