Thoughts on Libertarianism and Gay Marriage

                         

       

In contemporary postmodern and post-christian society, I believe it is prudent that each of us have a well formulated view regarding gay, lesbian and transgender rights and gay marriage specifically. While I am generally conservative socially, my views regarding same sex marriage has been evolving over the years. As I have become more and more Libertarian in my understanding of society, I am progressing towards more a classically Libertarian view of same sex marriage. That is, I have come to believe that it is not the primary function of the state to interfere in consenting adults marital choices. Libertarianism (Latin: liber, "free") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as its principal objective. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and freedom of choice, emphasizing political freedom, voluntary association and the primacy of individual judgment.

I personally believe in the maximization of human autonomy and want to the least amount of government and ecclesial interference in my life. With this quest for human autonomy as my primary social objective, I do not believe it is my place to try to deter another person within a free society from dating or marrying another person irrespective of their gender. Specifically, as I grow older, I have come to prioritize optimum liberty and human autonomy very high on my hierarchy of values. I do not believe it is the ordained role of the Christian church to join forces with the opponents of gay rights to prohibit a free and autonomous martial choice. I am a Libertarian and do not want the government or any other body of people to tell me how I should live my life or who I should love. If we attempt to deter of consenting gay and lesbian cultures from marrying, is it not feasible that one could attempt to prohibit a couple from marrying based on a prior divorce in the life of one of the marrying partners?

                                                       
Gay Marriage: Evangelicalism's Sacred Cow


I know that in writing on gay marriage from a distinctly Libertarian perspective, that charges of liberalism and heresy would be thrown my way. I believe nothing could be further from the truth. I am most certainly an orthodox Evangelical who believes in all the fundamental doctrines of the historic Christian faith as articulated in the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Baptist Faith and Message. The point I am making in arguing from the vantage point of a devil's advocate, that the Christian church has no business in telling secular culture who they should marry, is that if we attempt to communicate one punitive or coercive aspect of God's law (alleged prohibition against gay marriage), then we have no good reason not to proclaim every aspect of God's law. While gay marriage is a hot-button issue in both contemporary secular society and within American Evangelicalism, the subject of same-sex marriage is by no means the only ethical issue facing the Christian church and the broader secular culture.

My question for those who believe it is of paramount importance to communicate to the church and the unbelieving world that it is a grave transgression of God's law for those of the same sex to marry one another, is it not of equally importance to preach the egregiousness of violating any one of God's law including divorce and blasphemy? Why is the gay marriage issue so troubling to many Evangelicals when their churches are filled with gluttony and individuals with multiple divorces?