Richard Land, one of the top figures among the Southern Baptists — which boasts a membership so large they have become the second largest Christian body in the United States, after the Catholic Church — today published an editorial titled, “What Relationships Should Be Called Marriage: A Modest Proposal,” in which he likens same-sex marriages to platonic family relationships; for example, “two maiden or widowed sisters who were living together or a mother and a devoted son or daughter who were living together in a platonic relationship.”
READ: Land: The Devil Is Happy ‘The Homosexual Lifestyle’ Causes ‘Destruction’
Land, who serves the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) as president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) — despite losing his radio show after admitting to plagiarism –is, conveniently, also the executive editor of The Christian Post, where he writes:
I propose that as Americans we declare heterosexual marriage as the only relationship in our society that is to be defined by its sexual nature and that it will continue to be defined as a legal relationship between one man and one woman consummated by sexual intercourse.
If two men or two women are living together in a relationship and they want to ask the state legislature in their state to grant some of the special legal privileges accorded marriage to their relationship the state legislature should respond in the following fashion: “We will consider your request, but the sexual nature of your relationship will be irrelevant to our discussions because marriage is the only relationship in our society that is defined by its sexual nature. Why should other people who are living in committed relationships that do not involve sexual activity be discriminated against or left out?”
In other words, the state legislature would not discriminate against two maiden or widowed sisters who were living together or a mother and a devoted son or daughter who were living together in a platonic relationship. Why should such households and relationships be left behind when legal privileges and recognition are being passed out just because they are not in a sexual relationship?
If this weren’t so condescending and offensive, it would almost be comical.
Land, wrongly, adds:
Marriage has been defined in Western civilization for at least two millennia now as being a sexual relationship between one man and one woman. Christianity has defined it so historically, most often coupling it with life-long permanence and monogamy. As an Evangelical Christian, I certainly embrace that definition.
Dr. Land is greatly mistaken, ignoring the fact that marriage was more often about uniting kingdoms or bestowing property rights than about raising children and monogamy. Also, the even more-obvious fact is that Christians don’t own the concept of marriage, and not everyone is Christian.
“However, how do we deal with those who would choose to extend some of the legal privileges our society has accorded marriage to same-sex relationships without shattering the definition of marriage or discriminating against people outside the heterosexual definition of marriage?,” Land asks, smugly, not interested in helping same-sex couples and our families.
How do we protect society against those who would extend the special status of marriage to homosexual, lesbian or polygamous relationships? How do we protect time-honored titles, like “husband” and “wife,” from being attacked as homophobic or sexist terms to be replaced by spouse #1 and spouse #2 or “Mom” and “Dad” from being reduced legally to caregiver #1 and caregiver #2? Such legal assaults on these time-honored family terms seem inevitable if “same-sex” marriage becomes equal with heterosexual marriage.
If Land’s “modest proposal” sounds almost mild and harmless, consider this:
In April, as The New Civil Rights Movement reported, the Religious Right released a short film that attacked Hillary Clinton for supporting the rights of gay people as “human rights,†and advocated for the criminalization of homosexuals in this country and abroad. Top anti-gay activists, some from Southern Poverty Law Center-certified anti-gay hate groups appeared in the film,  Is Our Government Promoting Immorality?, and called homosexuality a “deadly lifestyle†while showing a video of Hillary Clinton discussing the Obama administration’s mandate to  protect LGBT rights around the world.
The film featured Family Research Council (FRC) “researcherâ€Â Peter Sprigg, Southern Baptist Convention’s Richard Land and right-wing author Michael Brown, along with hosts from Truth in Action Ministries (formerly Coral Ridge Ministries) Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy and Jerry Newcombe.
And also this spring, another Religious Right film portrayed heterosexual, righteous, “moral†Christians as the Titanic, and homosexuality, aka the “radical homosexua agenda,†as the iceberg. The Truth that Transforms short film featured some B-list leaders of the anti-gay movement, including Jennifer Kennedy Cassidy and Jerry Newcombe of Truth in Action Ministries, Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, right-wing historian Bill Federer, radio talk show host and author Michael Brown, and pastors Harry Jackson, Robert Jeffress and Erwin Lutzer.
Here’s my modest proposal: Keep the Church out of marriage. Remain, as NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, and others now call it, “neutral.”
Via Right Wing Watch