Newsweek Comes Out of the Closet In Defense of Same-Sex Marriage
Newsweek magazine, arguably one of the most influential news magazines in America, has decisively come out of the closet in defense of same-sex marriage with a new article that attempts to rewrite the Bible in one of the most distorted and biased articles I have ever read.
The cover of Newsweek this week reads “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage.” In its actual cover story for this week, “Our Mutual Joy,” Newsweek and its “religion editor” Lisa Miller offer up a blatant piece of revisionist propaganda obviously designed to sway the minds of the millions of American Christians who have remained staunchly opposed to same-sex marriage despite Hollywood’s many objections.
I encourage you to read this piece of frivolous drivel because I believe it to be the opening salvo of a full scale war the media intends to wage against the elements opposed to same-sex marriage. I think the success of Proposition 8 in California was a wake-up call for the media who had been so busy getting Barack Obama elected President that they failed to pay attention to what was happening on the same-sex battlefront. The Hollywood deep pockets were none too happy about the brush-off and are looking for the media to now take up arms and do their part.
You see, many observers believe that the main obstacle to same-sex marriage (and the gay agenda in general) is actually grounded in widespread Christian conviction. Gay rights activists believe if they can sway this conviction they have a chance to win the war and get what they want – special rights for homosexuals (see my article Is Opposing “Equal Rights” for Homosexuals a Hate Crime?)
If all of this sounds a bit much for you, you’ve been sleeping for the past couple of years. Even the media admits (a bit gleefully perhaps) that they played a major role in helping to get Obama elected President. There is no longer any pretense of fair or balanced news coverage in most national media coverage. The media wanted Obama elected President and they helped make it happen. The media wants same-sex marriage to be a fact of life – and they are willing to help make that happen.
Read by well versed Christians, Newsweek’s article is full of inaccuracies, biases, and downright manipulations of the meaning of Biblical scripture. However, most Christians are not what would be considered “well versed” Christians – meaning they do not have a deep and full understanding of the Biblical scriptures. These Christians are the Christians Newsweek is seeking to sway. These are the people that Newsweek and the gay rights activists believe they can manipulate into believing that everything they were taught in Sunday school and church was really just old fashioned, out-of-date, hate filled bigotry – not really the will of God.
And this is exactly what Lisa Miller’s article attempts to do. It’s a lengthy article which I had intended to rebut until I discovered that someone else had already beaten me to it and had done a much better job than I probably would have done anyway. Albert Mohler has written an article entitled “Turning the Bible on its Head — Newsweek Goes for Gay Marriage” which does a fine job of denouncing the Newsweek article and arguing the points Lisa Miller tries to make. If you read the Newsweek article you should ABSOLUTELY read the rebuttal. Don’t let Miller’s inaccuracies sway your opinion without hearing the truth.
Mohler makes a lot of great points in his rebuttal and says many of the things I’m saying now. He also points out the disappointing fact that Newsweek editor John Meacham takes the magazine even further into the media abyss by writing an editorial that includes the following statement:
No matter what one thinks about gay rights—for, against or somewhere in between —this conservative resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism. Given the history of the making of the Scriptures and the millennia of critical attention scholars and others have given to the stories and injunctions that come to us in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament, to argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt—it is unserious, and unworthy of the great Judeo-Christian tradition.
Meacham’s statement is so egregious in its dishonesty that it widens the scope of Newseek’s journalistic failure from an unbalanced editorial to an absolute atrocity against Christians.
Meacham actually proposes that to say something is wrong because it’s found to be wrong in the Bible is “intellectually bankrupt.” Yet to seek answers from the Bible and to seek answers from responsible scriptural interpretation is the responsibility, the very bedrock, of the Christian faith. Christians are taught from Day 1 to look to God’s word to find the answers to all of life’s questions.
What Miller, Meacham, and Newsweek are trying to do is morally reprehensible in my opinion. Meacham’s statement especially seeks to somehow embarrass and/or belittle Christians into believing that they are the ones who are forcing this situation to a head; that they are the ones who are somehow narrow-minded and bigoted for wanting to maintain outmoded and outdated ways of thinking about religion and marriage.
Meacham carries this attack on Christianity even further with the following statement:
Briefly put, the Judeo-Christian religious case for supporting gay marriage begins with the recognition that sexual orientation is not a choice—a matter of behavior—but is as intrinsic to a person’s makeup as skin color. The analogy with race is apt, for Christians in particular long cited scriptural authority to justify and perpetuate slavery with the same certitude that some now use to point to certain passages in the Bible to condemn homosexuality and to deny the sacrament of marriage to homosexuals. This argument from Scripture is difficult to take seriously—though many, many people do—since the passages in question are part and parcel of texts that, with equal ferocity, forbid particular haircuts.
Meacham’s misunderstanding of the scriptures is of little surprise. Many Christians misunderstand the scriptures. You might be interested in reading my article “An Explanation of the Apparent Contradictions Between the Old Testament and the New Testament of the Bible” if you want some further Biblical understanding of the difference between Old and New Testament scripture to which Meacham is apparently alluding.
It’s also not surprising that Meacham has taken up the banner of civil rights and claimed homosexuality to be on par with skin color (despite any scientific proof to support such a claim). This is a weapon the gay rights activists have been using for a while and have recently tried to turn into a more pronounced weapon in the war (despite the fact that minorities overwhelmingly vote against same-sex marriage at every opportunity).
What is surprising is that not only does Meacham seek to morally group gay rights with the fight for civil rights for minorities, in the same breath Meacham actually BLAMES Christians for slavery, claiming that scripture was used in the same manner to “justify and perpetuate slavery” as it is used in the battle against same-sex marriage (Miller makes a similar argument in her argument). This, of course, ignores the fact that slavery was opposed by a HUGE number of Christians throughout the history of the United States and was eventually put to an end largely as a result of work done by many of those Christians. It also conveniently ignores the fact that a great MAJORITY of Christians today (indeed, throughout history) view homosexuality as a sin and do not support same-sex marriage or any redefinition of traditional marriage. Meacham’s argument is a ridiculous distortion of historical truth and Christian moral imperatives.
The Newsweek article and the editorial by Meacham are both clearly designed as an attack on Bible believing Christians and those opposed to same-sex marriage on a moral (Biblical) basis. The argument they make that the Bible is some sort of “living” document meant to be interpreted in light of current progressive theologies and liberal world-views is squarely meant to allow younger generation, Sunday morning Christians easy excuses for creating their own pseudo-Christianity that takes the parts of the Christian religion they like and dismiss what they don’t like in order to form a more palatable religion. It’s also the complete opposite of what the Bible says about the nature of God and His word.
“I am the Lord. I do not change…” (Malachi 3:6)
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings… (Hebrews 13:8-9)
Of course, this is exactly the sort of argument you would expect Newsweek and the media to make. They have made the same argument about the U.S. Constitution and were able to elect a President who says he believes as much. Why not make the same argument about the Bible? They will undoubtedly find a receptive audience in many circles. It’s one of the few arguments that will work to accomplish their goals. If they can somehow convince people (Christians) that the Bible doesn’t really condemn the homosexual lifestyle then it won’t be much harder to convince them that same-sex marriage should be legalized.
This whole conversation also conveniently ignores the Natural Law argument which is also often made against same-sex marriage and relationships (albeit less forcefully). I made this argument in previous articles (both here and here). Newsweek conveniently ignores this argument altogether preferring instead to lob their ammunition at the true enemy of moral relativism – Christianity. I find their self-serving argument to be contemptible in the extreme.
Since I began writing this article I have found many more who have spoken out against Newsweek’s obvious bias (and many for it, of course). One I found interesting was at GetReligion.org and is entitled Sola scriptura minus the scriptura. Newsweek has also posted a page with links to other articles both for and against if you interested.
