When Erotic Liberty Trumps Religious Liberty, part 1

Ours is an interesting generation.  With the direction of recent events in our society it is evident that there is a new “right” that is being invented by the courts which at the same time is eroding a right that was recognized by our forefathers as fundamental to a people who desire to be governed well.

 Recently, there has been a growing legal trend that supports a new so-called “right” in our nation.  That right is Erotic liberty.  Erotic liberty is the right to not only choose whatever sexuality you desire, but to have that erotic choice affirmed and celebrated by the rest of society.  When your newly formed “erotic rights” are infringed upon – even by those who hold a differing view of your actions due to their religious liberty – erotic liberty trumps religious liberty and even freedom of speech.  This is quickly becoming the case as regards first the new right of homosexual marriage – and if the current trajectory continues – it will be the case in regard to any form of erotic liberty.

 The most high profile cases of this are the baker that was put out of business by his refusal to make a wedding cake for a homosexual couple who were married, and now a Fire and Rescue Chief in Atlanta who was fired because of his religious views on homosexuality and homosexual marriage.  But a basic search of this topic on the internet will turn up a whole host of court cases and disciplinary actions taken against those who hold to a biblical view of sexuality. 

 This may sound inflammatory, but there is a greater emphasis on suppressing the religious liberty of bible-believing Christians on this issue, than there is on radical Islam and terrorism in our nation.  Let me make my case by illustrating that there are no nationwide calls by our president and others to be careful about intolerance toward Christians when it comes to their views about marriage.  Counter to that, the Governor of Virginia is so concerned about the new wrong view of marriage (that wrong-minded view is now considered to be the view that marriage is between a man and a woman only) that he is seeking legal action making the words husband and wife removed from all Virginia government documents and replacing it with the word “spouse” instead.  God-forbid that we would refer to marriage partners as husband and wife.  Thus, while our elected officials loathe referring to militant terrorists as “radical Islamic terrorists,” they have no problem calling those who hold the view that marriage is only between a man and a woman bigots, homophobes, and civil rights violators.  They refuse to refer to the insurgent group in the Middle East as ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) but rather choose a name that does not identify their religious affiliation as Islamic.  That would be encouraging prejudice.  They decry (and they should) any kind of action against Islamic places of worship – or even businesses associated with Middle Eastern proprietor.  But when it comes to a man who is a Christian who says that he cannot celebrate a gay marriage by making a cake, it is all out war until the man is run out of business. 

 Thus we see the rise of Erotic Liberty as a fundamental right.  Whatever your sexual orientation – others MUST celebrate your choice as right and good.  This will be enforced by both societal pressure as well as a growing governmental legality.  The sexual revolution that began in the 1950’s and 1960’s with the denigration of marriage through the re-defining of fornication as living together and no-fault divorce, is now reaching it fruition with gay marriage and the denigration of gender as something determined by your biology.  We now see a young lady moving to New Jersey so that she can marry her father.  Bathrooms being re-thought, no longer according to biological gender, but rather according to whatever gender someone considers themselves to be that day.  We watch communities and school systems struggle with whether they can have boys and girls playing sports exclusively on the basis or biological gender.  We struggle with whether it is proper for religious institutions to be able to hire leaders who agree with their now “wrongly-held” views of marriage and sexuality.  This is the trumping of religious liberty with erotic liberty.

 Where do we go to find some source of stability in this time of revolution?  It seems to hold to a bible-based view of sexuality is dangerous in our day.  So what are we to do if we hold to the Bible as God’s revelation of Himself and His views on all matters on which it comments?  That is the burning question that is waiting to be answered for those of us in the evangelical, bible-believing community today.  It is also the question I will seek to answer in the next installment of this series of articles.