©Michael Pliskin and Nancy Lang

To know what you prefer
instead of humbly saying Amen
to what he world tells you
you ought to prefer,
is to have kept your soul alive.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson

I’d say, that Mr. Stevenson who lived back in the 1800s, was not only way ahead of his time, but way ahead of many people in more recent times. We have been told what and whom we ought to prefer for years. Not that long ago, black and white children couldn’t play in the same sandbox, swim in the same pool, sit together on a bus, or drink from the same water fountain. People of color didn’t have the same rights and freedoms as white people, and interracial marriage was not legal in the U.S. until the late 1960s.

 “When will we ever learn, when will we ever learn?” — Pete Seeger

And if it’s true that we learned everything we know in kindergarten, then why, pray tell, are we not treating everyone equally in the sandbox?? And do we really care if Suzy plays with Debbie instead of Johnny?

At our Passover Seder we were discussing the definition of freedom and what it means. We talked about how there are still many places where people are not free to live life the way they choose. How is it that, in most of the United States of America (the land of the free and the home of the brave), people are not allowed the freedom to love whom they choose to love, and be able to make that official?

“Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else.” — Epictetus

Many politicians believe that homosexual behavior is sinful. (I suppose the adultery well that they dip their stick in, is an acceptable form of sin?). If we are taught to love and accept each other, and even Jesus said we shouldn’t judge one another, then why and how, is it a problem for people of the same sex to marry, and to have the same benefits that a married man and a woman have?

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” –Paul the Apostle

If two people love each other, why should their gender make a difference? Times have changed since the Bible was written. In ancient Israel men were required to take a dead brother’s wife and make heirs with her. A master could buy women for his slaves to marry, and then keep them after letting the slaves go.

Yes, times have changed, and the church has changed its mind along with culture–for example issues regarding slavery, women being silent, and men’s hair length. So much of what was written then is no longer relevant, and is also left to much interpretation. For instance, God was evidently fine with polygamy, so couldn’t that be interpreted to mean that the union of man and woman is not the only marriage God will bless?

LIVE AND LET LIVE …who knew this was a Yiddish proverb?! It seems to me that if the origin of this quote comes from the roots of Judaism, then why do the very religious condemn people of the same sex for loving each other? If all of the very religious are living in the name of God, then why do they not let people love whomever they want to love without judgment?

We may not understand or agree with those who live a religious life where arranged marriages still happen and such rules as wearing wigs and head coverings are followed. And they may not understand why some secular people choose to live together before marriage. Neither way of life should be judged, especially by justifying it in the name of God.

We’ve come so far since the 1800s, and even since the 1960s. To be dictating whom we can love or marry seems to be a huge step backward. If some people believe that same sex marriage is wrong, they are entitled to their opinion but should not stand in judgment. I’m certainly no expert, but it seems to me that God would not want us doing things ‘in the name of God’ that hurts, kills or judges other people.

So, I ask, in the name of God, can we please follow the golden (biblical) rule, and just learn to live and let live?!

If you have any thoughts you’d like to share, please click on comments and submit!