My contention is that the unrest over gay marriage is deeper and older than Christianity. To be sure, scripture-literal people cite verses in Leviticus and Paul condemning homosexuality. But I think the main impetus is a more archaic kind of belief rooted in animism. One can see the germs of this even in the gender concepts portrayed in the 20,000 year old cave paintings of Lascaux.
Let me be clear immediately: I don't mean to dignify these beliefs by noting their antiquity. Quite the opposite. They are superstition and it's long past time to shed them. Nonetheless it's interesting to look at the associated chains of thought.
We are talking here about the SACRED, Things associated with nature, with agriculture, with the life cycle, like birth death and marriage. These categories are deeply imbued with the SACRED. They are surrounded by ritual, tradition and reverence. To question them is dangerous and sinful.
Around here, for example, when we want to dig a well we ask a local water witch to cite it for us. Using a willow wand (willows love water)he waits for the wand to dip indicating that the willow has found the spot. Where do we get this notion? I know it's found in Saxon Yeomanry. Out here we don't plant corn till after the first full moon in May. This is not the best use of the growing season, but we do it. I suspect it's an Iroquois way. Limiting marriage to heterosexuals is pretty much in the same category. Change any of them and you risk the anger of the Gods.
These old ideas are somehow comforting. If you hold to them you have a feeling of being more rooted, more in harmony with the great scheme of things.
In different climes there are peoples who believe that if a woman touches your canoe paddle it is ruined. It has become contaminated with the feminine. A Peruvian tribe I'm fond of has the theory that if a hunter isn't doing well, his gun must be angry due to the gun being sexually deprived. The solution is to restore the gun's good humor by letting it sleep with his wife for a while, exiling the hunter to the floor. Not surprisingly, many of the sacred taboo relate to managing sex. As Mark Twain said, God created sex as a joke, but when we didn't get it He got angry and made it into a sin.
Changing an ancient belief or taboo isn't easy. These things reside in a fairly reason-impenetrable box in the brain. You can't reason with it. When it comes to changing the heterosexual only marriage taboo you find it sets off contamination fears. That's why people imagine gay marriage can somehow hurt heterosexual ones. That line of thought implies that magical powers are at work. Exactly what happens when you violate the taboos. Mother Nature will be angry and punish us. No wonder it's us rural folk who are most resistant to change.
Am I apologizing for the old ways? No. the ideals of Democracy and enlightenment include a faith in analytic thought and the ability of a people to challenge superstition and thus make wise and useful decisions, at least sometimes. This argument began in Athens 2500 years ago when philosophers and statesmen like Aristotle and Pericles began to assert the superiority of reason and reflection over custom and veneration. It continues today. Conservatives of course champion the old ways, tried and true. Bless them for it. We can use some continuity too. But after due debate, we expect them to yield if the evidence is strongly against them.
And so they will, in the matter of gay marriage. I'm not going to make the case here, but gay marriage is good for society as well as being just. It's merely taken a few millenia to see that simple truth.
Like water witches and new moons, limited marriage is a tenacious belief. Though always a strong proponent of gay equality, it took me a few years to adjust to gay marriage. When I first heard about it, I was on the parish council of my church. At the time I opposed it before thinking it through. Like it or not all of us have this kind of deep, unreasoning mental territory. It co-exists. A Hindu friend consults his astrologer, while working as a nuclear physicist.
In any case, the struggle must go on, and we breeders must put our shoulders to the wheel along with our homosexual brothers. I only hope the struggle can be as civil as possible. Emotions run deep when you challenge the ancient faith. Let's fight hard in good spirits and kindness.