Actually Friends General Conference spoke toward the inclusion of of gay people as early as the 50,s. Yes the Evangelical Friends are still struggling with the issue. It may be another generation before Friends are united on this issue. Your ecclesial community will have a much more difficult time I think. But the growing number of Catholics who support marriage equality will have an effect on your communion as the next generation of Catholics will continue to deal with this social issue.
You can predict that Friends (Quakers) will be united on the pro-gay “marriage” one day. But no matter that some Catholics are in your camp on the issue of gay “marriage” according to polls, you can forget the idea that the Catholic Church will change the doctrine on homosexuality and position on gay “marriage.” It may be a leaner Church in the future, but so will other faiths who are and will remain united on the defense of true marriage. Remember that it is not just Catholics who do not accept pretend marriages being legalized to accommodate individual adult desires and entitlement to financial benefits without regard for the common good.
What your community will face in the very near future is the State stepping in and enforcing thee nondiscriminatory policies of those civil issues where religious beliefs of individuals do not get a pass based on religious beliefs that feel free to discriminate in the public arena. If your community wishes to participate in providing public services it will need to conform with civil law.
I do not see in the future where your faith community will be be required to amend it’s doctrines and practices, But in regard to civil matters the law will be required to be followed.
Well, duh. The Church is not in the business of law enforcement, but takes the position that she can influence and propose. You seem to have a problem with that.
If “hate speech” means stating and viewed as inciting violence against a protected minority you are probably correct, that would not be tolerated no more than yelling “fire!” In a crowded theater.
What you believe and practice in YOUR private devotional life in community is protected.
It is preposterous to liken expression of the belief on homosexuality and position on gay “marriage” as hate speech, which many pro-gays like to do. To suggest that such expression is like yelling “fire” in a crowded theater is beyond the pale.
Do tell us when or how in the course of civil exchange is a Catholic inciting violence by expressing that homosexual acts are wrong and homosexual marriage does not serve a social and common good. The CC does not have a lynch mob mentality. Catholic teaching is clear in that homosexuals as individuals are to be treated with compassion. I do have a family member, relatives and friends who are homosexual who have lived or are living the lifestyle; I don’t support gay “marriage” but I will never take the side of their oppressors or persecutors! Homosexuals living the lifestyle are in need of fraternal correction which they can freely accept or reject.
In the public square, and not just inside our churches, we are free to say and write about a deeply held belief. Whether lawmakers and judges listen is something else. Truth is not dependent on a popularity contest.
There is something very wrong and unjust about the view being lauded in advocating for gay “marriage” that there is no room in the public square for those who object to it based on religious views. It is wrong and unjust to drive away people with said belief from the stream of commerce, to find intolerable that people bring their religious views into the world of business and in the practice of their profession.
There is nothing wrong in teaching children not to bully a kid who is obese, has a large nose or terrible acne, wear uncool clothes, of skin coloring of a minority group, effeminate boys or masculine girls, or anyone with a homosexual orientation, etc. There is something very wrong and unjust when the right of parents over the education of their children in public schools are disregarded, parents who do not wish their children to be indoctrinated with the homosexualist philosophy.
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