At the water park today we were floating past an interracial couple and someone said something (I missed exactly what it was) about them and my response was "Gee, I'd love to have that couple in my Church" which was my first thought. The other person floated off, never did catch what they meant to say.
On my mission, in the mid-70s, I was asked about interracial marriage and my comment was that there wasn't anything wrong with it. In general, the more things in common you have with your spouse, the better, and race was just one thing among many.
But this morning I was wondering if gay marriages will become in a few years what interracial marriages were fifty or sixty years ago when they still prosecuted people for them in some parts of the country (see miscegenation statutes for more on the topic) until Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) finally put an end to that sort of thing.
I can think of gay couples I'd love to have in our Church.
BTW, one thing that struck me in reading Ethical Dilemmas in Church Leadership was that a survey of those in Protestant ministry reflected that 23% responded to having done something the felt was sexually inappropriate with persons other than their spouses while in the ministry. (page 68).
Made me feel sad. 12% had engaged in sexual intercourse with someone other than their spouse since entering the ministry. Those numbers are for those who are still currently Protestant ministers, with statistics drawn from an Evangelical oriented group (pastors contacted by Leadership Journal).
http://www.apolitical.info/webgame/plots/ for something much lighter ;)
