By Karen
Fry, RScP
Published with Permission
Proposition
8
Since at least 1977, Californians have been discussing,
protesting, voting on, and grappling with the many emotions and opinions,
primarily stemming from religious and (sometimes) political beliefs associated
with same-sex marriage. Recently, there has been more attention and judicial
movement in Proposition 8 by a ruling of Judge Walker in which he clearly
states that marriage has always been a civil matter.
And yet, are we being civil about the topic? Same-sex
marriage is certainly not only an issue in California. As you know, it has
become a flashpoint across the entire United States with fierce protests and public
demonstrations. When it comes to gays and lesbians, many people feel
perfectly at ease making self-confident public declarations about what they think the Bible says about homosexuality. It brings forth memories of the now unimaginable declarations in the same vein about people of color and women.
perfectly at ease making self-confident public declarations about what they think the Bible says about homosexuality. It brings forth memories of the now unimaginable declarations in the same vein about people of color and women.
Not so long ago, really only a few decades, people rested on
the authority of the Bible to defend positions of separation and quite frankly,
prejudice. The Bible was used to defend
the position that God made the black race to serve whites, that females were
subordinate to males, that women doing “men’s work” or voting went against
“God’s plan.” If it was, in fact, God’s
plan, why would Caucasians’ conscience demand that they follow these kinds of
declarations with statements like, “I love my black brothers and sisters and
mean them no harm?”
Have things changed in the new
century? I wonder. While there are
undoubtedly still segments of America that persist in these understandings of
God and the Bible when it comes to matters of race and gender, it is less
common to hear such blatant and overt declarations defending these
positions. Perhaps in this way, we have
evolved.
And so once again, we perhaps come to a
tipping point in history and the larger question is how long are we going to
hold a limited view - that of seeing each other as being separate from one
another? It is a view looking trough the lens of duality.
I take a stand for creating a world that works for everyone.
Our organization teaches we are all One, all connected and that we believe God
is in and through everything and we use the word God as a synonym for love.
There is only inclusion in this. In this inclusive concept for God, nothing and
no one is excluded. God is all-embracing (excluding nothing) and everything is
God.
In teaching God is love and love is God, love can lead the
way in all circumstances including same-sex marriage. Love is the greatest
power in the Universe. Our founder Ernest Holmes wrote:
Love overlooks the little differences that we have and finds
a point of reconciliation with others.
Love creates tolerance and human understanding, without which we become
really divided against ourselves and without which we almost unconsciously become
filled with criticism, condemnation, and false judgment. No one can be happy or enjoy the greatest
fulfillment in life until he has come to see that most people try to do about
the best they can. And when we are able
to reach out beyond the indifference and the coldness of life, reach through
all intolerance and unkindness, only then do we meet that Divine center which
is forever established within every person.
When we dislike people and groups, we are bearing witness to
our own limited viewpoints. The watchword is not exclusion; it is inclusion.
The more we include and come to love about people outside of ourselves, the
more we include and come to love within ourselves.
It makes one wonder just how much energy we are willing to
use to perpetuate this illusion of separateness. Isn’t our valuable energy and our precious
resources better used to build a better world for everyone, gay and straight?
The campaigns for and against Proposition 8 raised $39.9
million and $43.3 million, respectively, becoming the highest-funded campaign
on any state ballot and surpassing every campaign in the country in spending
except the presidential contest (Source: Wikipedia). During this same year,
20,000 teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses and other educational support
staff were receiving pink slips in California and billions of dollars were
being cut from the education budget. So where do our rifts really get us?
If we allowed ourselves to look through different eyes/lens,
taking on a new perspective of love, unity, and harmony, if we looked past the differences
and focused on our similarities, we could come to understand that that which is
at the center of each one of us is the same. As Ernest Holmes so often stated,
the Universe is never in conflict with Itself, never in a state of disharmony,
and never in a state of dis-ease. We are
each an individual expression of the Divine and it is a magnificent realization
that God is incarnated in each one of us in a unique way…a way that gives texture,
color, and variation to that which otherwise would be infinitely boring.
We have an opportunity to stand in a place of love instead
of fear, a place of inclusion instead of exclusion, and a place of equality
instead of inequality. We are an organization that sees a world that works for
everyone. Can you see that, too?
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