Christians won’t be “bullied” into accepting gay marriage because it goes against fundamental precepts of the faith, a commentator has said.
Writing online, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry said that assuming Christianity will change its morality “depending on the prevailing social conditions” is a “false premise.”
He commented, “The history of Christian ethics actually shows that the faith has been surprisingly consistent on the topic of sexuality.”
“Christian opposition to homosexual acts is of a piece with a much broader vision of what it means to be a human being that Christianity will never part with,” he added.
Gobry said, “Christianity’s view of sexuality isn’t some encrusted holdover from a socially conditioned patriarchal era on its way out, but is instead deeply connected to its understanding of who God is and what human beings exist for.”
He noted that since the beginning, Christian sexual ethics have been counter-cultural, holding a “bizarrely exalted” view of lifelong, monogamous, heterosexual marriage.
Christians were set apart from the rest of their culture by their refusal to be involved in such things as polygamy, the sexual exploitation of slaves, prostitution, premarital sex, abortion and homosexual acts.
Gobry said many gay-marriage supporters “want to force Christianity to affirm same-sex marriage” largely because they think “it will only take moderate prodding to get Christianity to cave in.”
“History and Christianity’s own self-understanding suggest, however, that such an outcome is not in the cards,” he warned.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also has said that popular opinion on gay marriage is “not a case for changing obedience to God.” He made the comments while speaking to more than 6,000 people at a Christian conference last year.
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