It seems that over the last couple of years there has been a consistent pattern of some sort of social outrage caused by a Christian stating his or her views on same-sex marriage or homosexual actions. Some of the incidents include the messy scandal created when Tim Tebow was scheduled to speak at a "gay-bashing" church in Dallas, Texas, the Chick-fil-a incident when its CEO spoke in an interview that he was anti-gay marriage, the statement made by ESPN journalist Chris Broussard on Outside the Lines after Jason Collins became the first NBA player to announce that he is gay, and most recently, Phil Robertson's comments in an interview with GQ Magazine. This is by no means an exhaustive list, these are just some of the incidents that have had the most notoriety (and the ones that I can remember offhand) and there have been countless other incidents that somehow relates to this issue - be it court cases, proposed laws, or incidents involving common citizens. The pattern usually goes as follows: the media somehow breaks the story, then the person in question is somehow reprimanded (be it through actual discipline or a distorted public perception), then there unleashes a feud between two sides as the dust settles until people eventually forget about it until another incident comes along.
Let's get something out of the way: I am a Christian who regards homosexuality as out of the realm for God's plan for human sexuality, thereby sinful and also view same-sex marriage to be a further deterioration of family in America. I realize that I am of the stance that seems to be dwindling, but I hope I haven't lost those who disagree with me (tolerance should go both ways, but I'll leave it at that). Anyway, I could spend time going over the difference between freedom of speech and political correctness, the hypocrisy of what the media holds as taboos compared to what it promotes in television, film and music, the biblical case that homosexuality is indeed sinful, how even a gentle support of this stance still causes outrage, and the negative practical implications of widespread condoning of same-sex marriage - i.e. the domino effect that it can have in opening doors to other kinds of marriage such as polygamy (admittedly, the effect began with the spread of the acceptance of sex outside of marriage causing the divorce rate to skyrocket). Even from the opposite point of view, I could go over questions like, does the government have the power to regulate social issues such as marriage? or can banning same-sex marriage truly be an action that genuinely keeps Church and State separated? or even, can science prove that a person can be predisposed to being homosexual? Chances are, if this blog article intrigued you enough to open it and if you have made it this far, then you know where to find good sources on backing up whatever stance you hold.
I could site sources and give a number of defenses for my point of view and even attempt to answer arguments brought up by the opposing side. I could join the heated debate on social media as each new debacle relating to this issue is released. However, what progress would that effort actually make? I feel as if I am equipped to lay out numerous points that defend my stance in a loving, non-confrontational matter, but where would it leave the situation? At best the disagreeing parties would remain civil in conversation and ultimately "agree to disagree" and at worst it would turn into an online screaming match which leave the opposing parties further apart than they were in the first place. Is no one else exhausted from going through the same process each time this issue comes up? The point is that the issue has served as a major distraction (quite frankly, to both sides). The conservative Christian stance on this issue has become the primary quality of how the Church as a whole is perceived by the media and the majority of the American public. Clearly, this is a perverted perception of how the Church should really be seen, but many Christians do much to add to fuel this perception on social media!
Am I saying that this subject is not worth having a debate over? No, it is indeed a worthy issue that Christians and Americans need to be aware of and concerned about. What I am saying is that this issue has taken far too high of a priority among Americans - regardless of what stance one may have. I know we can't control what the media releases, but we can stop fueling the fire. It's not realistic to expect that people will all of a sudden stop talking about same-sex marriage or the morality of homosexuality on all social media, but even if the reaction from people online lessened just a little bit, it would be progress on starting to focus on different things. To add to that, as I previously alluded to, this is the type of issue that should not be debated on the internet. I realize it will inevitably happen, but I would ask you to try to recall any time a political debate between Facebook friends made any sort of good progress.
I can't erase this issue or make people stop talking about it, but I would implore you that the next time you feel an urge to send a tweet or update your status regarding this issue, that you would take caution. Ask yourself whether or not it is truly worth "going there." Anticipate any negative comments that you may receive and think about how you can respond in a calm and educated manner. Ask yourself if it is truly worth joining the argument on someone's status or tweet. Ask yourself if you are really willing to listen (or more precisely, read) to what the other person is saying and if you can word your response in a manner that tries not to provoke anger. After this precautionary stage, try to come to an honest conclusion of whether or not the words you are contemplating to put out there will result in a form of progress. I would wager that most times the conclusion would be "no," mainly due to the nature of social media.
I believe that these types of debates should be saved for face-to-face discussion. That may seem like a foreign idea to many of you, but believe it or not, the dynamic of a conversation greatly changes when the other person is visibly in front of you. This particular issue is very tricky to handle when it comes to social media, which is why the result is usually very messy. I am not saying that each side of the argument should simply lay down concerning their online presence, nor am I saying that all talks of this issue online should be stopped in fear of offending someone. The point is that this issue is distracting us (and I am mainly looking at you, my fellow Christians) from other things that matter. There is a time and a place for stating a political stance (ultimately, it's your right to determine when that time is *America*), but I want to appeal to you that the best time for it is real life discussion. Otherwise, I would ask Christians to find other ways to be faithful witnesses for Christ on social media. Sharing some sort of Christian material is by no means a wrong thing to do, but I would argue that the most effective means of being a good witness on social media is by exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit. Go out of your way to reach out to that person from school you haven't talked to or seen in 5 years or find some other ways to be genuinely nice to someone. If you're going to consistently post Christian material on Facebook or Twitter, the people who see your posts also have to see your faith in action; there must be a balance.
Same-sex marriage is an important issue and there are times when one may feel it necessary to state one's stance on social media. I ask you that when you do feel that it is necessary, you would form your statements carefully and be prepared to listen and calmly reply to another person's response. However, I also hope that you realize that social media is very limited and impersonal; therefore, it is usually not a good platform for these issues to be discussed. Let's recognize this cycle that is getting us nowhere and realize that there are more important tasks to be done and issues to be covered.
