A Christian Ought to Vote Against Prop 8

Thanks for the response. In this round I'll begin by defending my arguments and proceed to deal with my opponent's case. My Case My opponent seems to have a few misconceptions concerning my case I’d like to clear up. Being gay is not a sin. At all. Rather, acting on those impulses is the sin. Lust is the central sin dealt with, no matter straight or gay, and the fact that someone is “born” gay (I firmly believe they do not choose it) does not automatically doom them to hell. The notion that every single one of them is active sexually, as my opponent implies when he says that all LGBT men and women sin and thus are separate from God, is wrong. Please remember – I stated at the beginning that I believe that homosexuality is a sin – that is, gay sex is. Being gay is fine as long as you don’t act feelings. Rather, every generation’s LGBT youth can just as easily be brought into the church as straight youth is they didn’t think we had such a hostile attitude. Many LGBT people aren’t necessarily repelled from church because of their sin (we all sin, yet there are millions upon millions of churchgoers in the US), but often because of – without sounding like a hippy – negative energy that literally radiates from a vast majority of Protestant churches in the US. I hope my opponent understands that in America we have what is called an Australian ballet, or a secret ballet [sic]. No one knows how you vote in any given situation unless you tell them. So really there is no way of knowing how Christians vote in reality unless one were to violate the right of a secret ballet. There is no way you can tell me that Christians aren’t the main supporters of Prop 8-esque laws. One of the sources you use in your case, CARM, at (http://carm.org...) confirms what everybody already knows. I quote: The Christian church, however, has not stood idly by. When it has spoken out against this political immorality, the cry of "separation of church and state" is shouted at the so-called "religious bigots." But when the homosexual community attempts to use political power to try and control the church and get its agenda taught in schools, no such cry of bigotry is heard from the sacred halls of the media. Why? Because it isn't politically correct to side with Christians. Ignore the false statements in the latter half of the paragraph (gays are trying to control the church?) and note the underlined phrase. We don’t need public ballots to see how a demographic generally votes. They tell us. Well this might be true, however if we make it available to homosexuals to do things which are not supported by the Christian morality, they will be unwilling to relinquish those practices to be converted. This will only make it harder for a homosexual to become a Christian if they are already in sin. This is absolutely true. No one is going to become gay because they can get married. They either are or they are not. As far as relinquishing those practices goes – the fact that someone is gay does not change. But most importantly: VOTING AGAINST PROP 8 DOES NOT MAKE GAY MARRIAGE LEGAL, IT MERELY DOESN’T MAKE IT ILLEGAL. By voting against Prop 8 a Christian doesn’t condone gay marriage – s/he merely avoids taking an overtly controversial and really unnecessary law My Opponent’s Case Let’s remember that I do believe homosexuality is a sin (at least to the point I clarified above – gay sex is, not being gay in and of itself). Contention 1: Love the sinner, hate the sin. My opponent’s main argument for Christians to vote against prop 8 was that Christians have ostracized gays so to win them back we must vote in their favor . . . Voting in their favor? Not quite. There’s a difference between voting for them and not voting against them. Remember: people will be LGBT anyways, but in a practical sense, the church can still maintain gay sex is wrong while making sure that people know we don’t all think gays are sub-human or second class citizens (which I’m sure is not the case, but is the common sentiment among the LGBT community and outside observers). Refer above: Prop 8 doesn’t make gay marriage legal. Love is lacking, absolutely, and I’m not saying that we need to ONLY vote against Prop 8. It is, however, an important step – as I’ve maintained in my case. One great way to show that Christians are loving is to vote against Prop 8, as I held in my case. Homosexuality is a sin, so we should no way endorse its practices in any way, including SSM. Again, voting against Prop 8 does not make gay marriage legal, but recognizes that they have rights as well. However a better way to encourage people to the faith would to be to come from a place of humility and say, “Hey I’m a sinner, you’re a sinner, and we both need Christ just as much as anyone else here. I will love you as my brother/sister in Christ and we will encourage each other through our sins, so that we may grow closer to our creator!” That should be the Christian response, not to endorse a sin, but to embrace the sinner. Repeat. Voting against prop 8 wouldn’t endorse the sinner. So in conclusion, it is my position that Jesus would not endorse gay marriage, he would rather love the sinner. There is no biblical evidence to as why Christ would support it. My opponent has agreed that in order to witness to other we should not sacrifice our values. So let us not sacrifice our doctrine by supporting this sin. This was poor naming on my part. Jesus never says anything about homosexuality. It’s more or less all Paul and the Old Testament. Either way, though, there is no sacrificing of doctrine by voting against gay marriage – “the church can still maintain gay sex is wrong while making sure that people know we don’t all think gays are sub-human or second class citizens”. WWJD?, then, boils down to what they Bible tells us to do. And that is, save souls- which can be done easily if we make it ostensible our love for all people, whether straight or LGBT, by voting against Prop 8.