New Church Life September/October 2015 | Page 28

The Marriage of Love and Wisdom: A Response to the Same-Sex Marriage Ruling in the United States The Rt. Rev. Peter M. Buss Jr. M any people are still responding to the United States Supreme Court decision of June 26, 2015, in which the United States joined several other nations in legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. While a number of people regard the Court’s decision with favor, others see it as a challenge to their fundamental beliefs – to things they have long held to be true about marriage and the Lord’s will for us all. I am one of those people. This article is my attempt to share some New Church teachings that bear on the subject in a respectful manner. My hope is that readers in the United States may be aided in their own informed responses to this dramatic shift in attitudes and practices around marriage in their country. I also hope that those in other countries may feel invited to consider their views on this important topic. Love and wisdom. I’d like to gather my remarks around the theme of love and wisdom. We might all agree that the best response to many of life’s challenges comes from love and wisdom – not love divorced from wisdom, which can sometimes appear soft and rudderless; not truth alone, which can be cold and harsh; but that useful interplay of love informed by wisdom. This is not, therefore, a condemnation of people who, for whatever reason, identify as gay, or an attempt to speak against those who support them. Rather my hope is that we can consider some of the reasons the Lord created marriage 460