Osler's Razor

After the response to our piece last month on CNN about Trayveon Martin and the February piece I did there on abortion, I expected a reaction to yesterday's piece on gay marriage. Well, I got it-- over 6,000 comments, more than 11,000 Facebook recommends, and over 200 emails from people who took the trouble to track me down. I'd like to share with you some of the good, bad, and ugly from the e-mailbag today.

But, first, I just want to say... much of this response makes me extremely grateful to work at St. Thomas and with colleagues like Teresa Collett. Teresa, I am sure, completely, certainly, and wholly disagrees with me. Yet, she does so in a way that is Christian, loving, intelligent, well-informed, and principled. More than once, she has come to me with a disagreement, and has been right... and I changed my mind or corrected a careless statement.

And now, the mailbag. (I will use only first names here, and have included verbatim excerpts).

This message came to me from Kenneth, who echoed many other writers:

You are NOT a Christian. That's easy to see. You said, "[t]he reason I am for gay marriage is because of my faith," yet Jesus said, "go and sin no more," to the woman caught in adultery. (John 8:11).

Interestingly, dozens of writers pointed me to one of my favorite verses, John 8 (where Jesus condemns a legal execution). Of course, as regular readers know, I find it very odd that the lesson people draw from this is that we are to go around telling people to "go and sin no more." That only works if we put ourselves in the person of Jesus. How arrogant is that!?! I am not God. We are clearly the people with rocks in their hands, who are being taught by Jesus-- and being taught that we can have the moral authority to cast stones only if we are without sin (and none of us are). Perspective matters, and we are the sinners, not Jesus.

More pointed, and less nuanced, was this friendly note from Daniel:

You should keep your mouth shut, you are causing real Christian to look like total idiots. The Bible says you should abstain from the mere appearance of evil.

You have done the opposite. I feel sorry for you. All this to make a name for yourself, maybe a book deal or what??

You should just come out of the closet and admit you are a pervert that wants to engage in a same sex relationship or have you already?? Again don't tell me, I don't really want to know.

You sound like someone in denial or a laden homosexual trying to find a way to justify what you lust after. God doesn't not hate people but sin, you seem to have forgotten that.

Sex has a purpose, reproduction. I mean this isn't hard to figure out. This is impossible between two men or two women. I'm pretty sure the reproduction process requires two different sets of plumbing.

Therefore the sex act between two men, sodomy is not a natural act and is immoral. And we've got AIDS for it that we all have to deal with now. I hope you get fired not for hurt or harm to yourself but for the damage you are doing poisoning young minds with you ideology that is so queer.

You have perverting the teaching's of Christ, you got it all wrong. You are an offense to every born again believer and to God Himself!


JJ, like many others, seemed to miss my reference to Leviticus in the article:

I would implore you to retract your article, if you are truly a Christian how can you say your faith approves gay and lesbian marriage when gods word says the following > Seriously, do you even read your bible??

Leviticus 18:22: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination."

Andy wrote the following anti-Catholic screed not only to me, but to the administration at my Catholic law school, which is a little confusing (sorry, guys!):

The word repent means a lot more than what by nature you have been conditioned to believe. And when you do repent you will learn that you are not a Christian and a follower of Christ but rather a follower of an image of a false god and false Christ (Matthew 24:24). You will also learn that Peter was not the ‘rock’ or the first Pope. There were no Popes for more than four hundred years after Christ’s death. We encourage you to read the article ‘Popes and the Princes of This World’ listed on our website and after you do your research please do advise us of anything that is not true what has been written.


Tony sent the shortest note:

idiot!

In addition to a suggestion that I be thrown into a lake of fire by a writer named Patrick, there was this from someone of the same name:

Mark,

You're an asshole...not a Christian. I figured someone that is honest should tell you. Now you know in case you were confused.

God bless,

Patrick

Got it! However, there was also grace and support in some other notes, like this one from Marilyn:

What a beautifully written piece on the sanctity of the sacraments and that none of us may deny them to others who freely choose them for themselves. As a heterosexual, Roman Catholic Christian, my response to fellow Christians who have attempted to gain my support for legislation against gay marriage is that our sexual orientation is biological and as such was determined by God; who are we to question the wisdom of God's creation? No one has ever debated that position with me. Your opinion piece citing Scripture comes across as even more accepting and loving. Well done!


This came from Debra:

I am gay and I have always believed in the words of Jesus, but never considered myself
Christian. The words you wrote for CNN were very moving and true. Although I do not
belong to a church I have never thought that Jesus would deny me for who I love and
your words reflect that very beautifully. Your analogy of the water being stronger than
those who wish to withhold it were wonderful.

I would proudly visit your church and shake your hand!

This came from a military officer (I have redacted it to protect his/her identity).:

Sir, after reading your CNN piece "The Christian case for gay marriage", I just wanted to personally thank you for your words. As an officer in the [United States Military], I have led many men and women who have experienced the discrimination you allude to in your piece, and would cite the recent dissolution of the DADT policy in the Department of Defense as a testament to what can be achieved by inclusion versus exclusion. As a father of two beautiful young ladies and as a career [military] professional, I am constantly looking for examples of character to display to my children and my men, thank you for providing me such an example.

And finally, my favorite, from Elle:

Dear Dr. Osler,
I was against gay marriage before reading your article. You have changed my mind. Thank you.

Dialogue is good, and even the harshest critics of my position often do so from a good heart... let that dialogue continue!