Popular Culture Review Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 2005 | Page 73

Out of Focartm the Family
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including the right not to testify against one’s partner in court. In November
2004, the United Kingdom passed civil partnership legislation that gave same-
sex couples almost all of the rights, privileges, and benefits of opposite-sex
married couples. “We are glad to see the increase in the numbers of European
countries recognizing same-sex partnerships,” said Patricia Prendiville,
executive director of the International Lesbian and Gay Association. “This
clearly demonstrates that same-sex relationships are not only becoming socially
acceptable in Europe, but Europe is also moving toward true democracy where
all forms of discriminations are removed” (www.ilga.org).
While other countries move forward, Focus on the Family and similar
organizations advocate moving backwards into the good old days of religious
intolerance and denial of reality, when science was heretical and equal access to
and treatment for all under the law was a ridiculous idea widely acknowledged
as an immoral perversion of “God’s law,” as that law was interpreted by the
purveyors of religious dogma with a self-aggrandizing political agenda.
10. The gospel of Jesus Christ will be severely curtailed.
Aside from the fact that this “argument” has absolutely nothing to do
with the civil right of gay people to marry, Dr. Dobson references “the gospels
of Jesus Christ,” but cites (a-contextually) a cryptic chapter and verse from
Malachi: “Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are His. And
why one? Because He was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your
spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth” (Malachi 2:15). This
is to be expected because nothing Jesus allegedly said could be used to support
the campaign against gays. Quite the contrary, the Gospels call upon the faithful
to dedicate themselves to creating a more ethical and just world. They also call
for proactive efforts to assure justice and equality for all “God’s children,”
especially the disenfranchised. But, appropriately, Malachi 2 is addressed to
politically-motivated “spiritual leaders”:
Malachi 2:1: And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for
you.
Malachi 2:9-10: Therefore have I also made you contemptible
and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept
my ways, but have been partial in the law. Have we not all one
father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal
treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the
covenant of our fathers?
Malachi 2:17: Ye have wearied the LORD with your words...
Rhetoric such as that espoused by Dr. Dobson has indeed set brother
against brother and sister against sister, disrupted families and ended