The jury is still out in my mind on this issue. There are Christian leaders who are friends of mine I deeply respect who have differing opinions to each other. The way I am leaning is best expressed in this interview of John Dickson from the Centre for Public Christianity.

The important point that John makes, and which I have heard elsewhere, is that Jesus had this incredible balance in which he actually intensified the norms of his culture (“previously it has been said…, but I say to you…”) while at the same time being a friend of ‘sinners’. Today I have no doubt he would be known as a friend of the same-sex oriented community.

It could also be said that we should say as much as Jesus did about this particular issue, which is of course nothing. But that is a cop-out. This is obviously a very real issue for thousands of people in this country. It has also been said that same-sex oriented people make up a very low proportion of the population, but that issues like greed, which Jesus said a heck of a lot about, affects us all, so therefore we should be speaking on these ‘bigger’ issues. I understand that point of view, and I agree with it to an extent, but it still can tend to be a convenient distraction from what is a red-hot issue and one that is very close to the hearts of many people.

I have to think more about this, and I intend to read some more over the next few weeks, particularly from the point of view of those who support same-sex marriage so that I get a balanced view. I want to be open to what I think is the most Christ-like response. I’ll post my thoughts as they are developed.

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