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UPDATE: The Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families responds to Harris below.
No one likes being called a bigot, but no matter how you slice it, Rev. Mark Harris is exactly that. The Charlotte Observer has a puff piece on the senior minister at uptown Charlotte’s First Baptist Church, who will be a well-known advocate for the passage of the anti-gay marriage discrimination amendment that will go before voters on May 8. He is the head of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina – the organization represents 4,300 N.C. Baptist churches (1.3 million members).
The gist of the Observer profile is that Harris is just for a civil public debate on the referendum, which would bar gays and lesbians from civil marriage as well as negate any opportunity for civil unions and eliminate domestic partnerships where they have been locally established.
“But I hope we can express our positions – keep the conversation to the facts and our principles – and do it in a civil way,” Harris, 45, said. “It doesn’t mean I’m going to change someone else’s position or they’re going to change mine. “But in America, we all ought to be able to express ourselves without things getting out of hand.”
What is getting out of hand is the obvious stated goal of these fundies to conflate church and state when it comes to civil marriage. I don’t care what he believes or preaches on Sunday, or what happens in his church. This amendment has nothing to do with interfering in church affairs, it’s about enshrining bigotry in the North Carolina constitution, which should be expanding rights, not restricting them, based on any group’s objection to another group of people.
Harris tries to extract himself from the bigotry he is a proponent of by stating he’s not for “discrimination.” I’m not sure what dictionary he’s using but try to square your definition with this:
“From a biblical position, all I can do is state my position: I believe that homosexuality is a sin … That said, I don’t believe that that position is at the heart of this amendment. If homosexuals choose to maintain a relationship and live together, that’s their business. I don’t believe people should be discriminated against.” Same-sex marriages, he said, aren’t good for children. “I just believe that marriage between a man and a woman is ideal,” he said. “It is such a unique union, and it is absolutely essential to the future of humanity.”
Are we back to the procreation argument? What about infertile couples? Couples beyond procreative years? They aren’t marrying to further the human race. And they don’t need a church ceremony to be married under state law. This isn’t about Mark Harris’s vision of God’s law, something that the Rev. Nancy Kraft, pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, notes in the article:
She, too, hopes the debate will be civil. Her objection, she said, isn’t based on religion. “I just think it’s inappropriate as a constitutional amendment,” Kraft said. “It’s political grandstanding on the part of people who are anti-gay.” She said the amendment would discriminate against gay people. “I hope people really look at this as a broader issue and don’t think they’re voting on gay marriage,” she said. “There is no rational way you can justify putting discrimination into our constitution.
Harris also adds that the amendment is needed to stop “activist judges” from overturning the state DOMA. The sad truth is that none of these anti-gay arguments make logical sense, but this is an emotional and personal issue for many North Carolinians. The debate can be civil, but it needs to be fact and evidence based, not about fear-mongering or religious justification for discrimination.
Related:
* NC group uses ‘sniper crosshair’ image to bash marriage equality
UPDATE (12/28): The Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families responds:
“We agree with Mark Harris’ assertion that we should keep the Amendment conversation factual – and do it in a civil way. Nevertheless, this type of discourse is something not seen in other states, especially from an industry willing to pit people’s religion – as well as gross misinformation – against families. We must be willing to honor the very real emotions, including pain and fear, that these types of discriminatory measures naturally evoke, especially when North Carolina’s particular Amendment is not only a permanent ban on marriage equality and civil unions – relationship recognitions that a majority of North Carolinians support – but also strips basic benefits and protections from loving couples, women, and children, and causes substantial economic harms to families, business and the perception of the state as a whole. No one of faith – or otherwise – will sit back while families lose their health insurance, domestic violence victims lose their protections, and loving couples lose their ability to see each other in the hospital. We can’t and we won’t let that happen. We will make sure that the families of NC are protected from this harmful, extreme amendment.”
-Jeremy Kennedy, Campaign Manager, The Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families.
19 Comments
Wow, he wants to stop activist judges from allowing people to express uncondtional love for someone by marriage without realizing that Jesus himself was an activist for love, unconditional love and the expression of love.
If someone takes the state DOMA — any state DOMA — or a state anti-marriage amendment to federal court, chances are better than even that it’s toast. It doesn’t need an activist judge — it just needs a simple reading of the 14th Amendment.
I think it helps to specify one’s understanding of a word.
Bigot(s) means, a person or persons of a class that deem themselves superior to others, regularly and openly express contempt for those others and codify 1) their contempt for the target of their bigotry and 2) their belief in their own fatuously alleged social superiority in laws.
boycott red state when you go on vacation. at least put them at the bottom of your to do lists. time to vote with our liberal $$$$$
I can’t figure who they hate more; women or gays.
But they all must be REALLY FUN in bed!
I don’t think Jeezus figures into their calculations anymore. After 2000 years he’s just a convenient myth, they just put strings on him and make him do or say whatever they feel like
Most kids outgrow the Santa Claus bullshit by the time they’re eight years old. How old do adults have to be before they outgrow the Jeebus bullshit?
Don’t know who they hate more, but men of the cloth do have a fancy for little boys. They use their third leg to spread the “Word of God” to the new generation.
Mix and repeat.
Didn’t they sing the same bullshite tripe about what they “believe” about inter-racial marriage?
And no one learned the lesson then either. And no one will now.
All religions are a cancer of the human condition.
If the dopes believe in a crock like Jeebus, it’s cinch to get them to believe in a crock like Osama.
During the 1960 election, a Southern Baptist Minister (who had a Sunday TV show on the local station), informed the community that, should JFK be elected, the Pope would be moving into the White House.
In private, he was “gayer” than George Takai.
As a Rev, not fundie, I speak up very reluctantly. I may not be so welcome myself.
I happened last week to have a very animated conversation on this topic…I did not bring it on. I did insist on the notion that, like others, gays are also children of God….that was enough to get me told that what they do (?) is an “abomination”…downhill from there.
I tried to be very respectful (No, I was) with someone who still have Bush/Cheney automobile sticker.
Yes. Akin to supporting abolition while secretly buying “fugitive slave laws,” as slave owner who profits from another’s uncompensated toils. Such hypocrisy deserves nothing.
It would be well to remind those playing the “abomination” card that it’s also an abomination to eat shrimp and lobster. This begs the question: is one abomination worse than another, and if so, how can one tell the difference?
I suggested considering other translations…yep, lost again.
In 1978, the Southern Baptist Convention decided to become a front group for the Republican Party agenda. That was when Ronald Reagan was touring the South giving permission for Southern Republicans to let loose their inner bigot. The times have not changed. Nor has the dodge.
“I’m not a …., I just believe in….” Fill in the blanks with your favorite pairs of words. Such as “I’m not a segregationist, I just believe in prayer in the schools.” “I’m not a chauvinist, I just believe that a woman’s place is in the home.”
And at @13, the predecessors of this brand of preacher did in fact support the fugitive slave laws in order to protect their property.
The Southern Baptist Convention is an inheritor of the Confederacy, the literal split came about due to the question of slavery, (guess which side they were on). Conservative religion requires conservative everything else. That being said, I’m sure if it came to it Harris would insist he isn’t gay, its his boyfriend who’s the gay one.
My friend, you have hit upon the “Sothron Rationale”1
As long as you are a top, you aren’t gay!
Catchers are gay, pitchers aren’t!
Don’t know about OK, but in FlaGaAla in the 1950′s/60′s,
Them good ol’ boys weren’t TOO selective.
(Hide your sheep and chickens!)
This is actually the “we’re not haters” NOM strategy. Same sex marriage is already illegal in North Carolina, so they already know they have majority support for keeping it that way. But amending the constitution to address the issue hasn’t been as popular, especially since it goes further than just the SSM marriage issue. So by regularly reminding everyone they have no interest in ostracizing gays or preventing them from living together, it makes those who weren’t inclined to vote for the amendment either because they’re fearful of government overreach or they have gay family members, neighbors, co-workers, etc. feel better about supporting it.