The Vote A Week Away!

In just 8 days our nation will be choosing a new President; a very important decision as you well know. Whomever you choose to vote for is for you to decide. I would urge you to vote - however you choose to - vote your conscience and vote for whomever you believe is right for our country - but vote!

Let me just say as a veteran who served our country and proudly defended our freedoms, I have always held in the back of my own conscience the many, many, who died to make sure we have that right. Believe it or not, our system of government is still the envy of the world and most of the world aches for the right to have a say in their government like we have. To have this right and not to exercise it - to me is as close to a deliberate sin as I can imagine even though there is no "biblical" mandate to vote.

That we will be choosing a new President you well know, as I said above. And I have my own personal reasons for voting my conscience; however, as a Priest and Pastor I will never ever publically endorse one candidate over another from the pulpit or otherwise. That being the case, as I have to say I will never publically endorse a candidate I DO feel obligated to speak out on moral issues - and there is a BIG one our ballot this time! Proposition 8.

Much has been written and said in the papers about Prop. 8 and I wouldn't presume to be able to summarize them all. Having read the actual text of the proposed new law - the ONLY thing this initiative does is to ensure the California State Constitution states (and I quote from the actual text of the Proposition):
SEC. 7.5. Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Those in opposition to Proposition 8 want to "redefine" marriage to mean “between two people”. Marriage is between a man and a woman. Period. That's what it is. This is NOT an issue of civil rights as we are meant to believe. Gay and Lesbian Couples have every civil right available to them already. They cannot be denied legal rights of shared ownership, medical access to partners, and any other "benefit" a traditional "married couple" has. In terms of "civil rights" I do absolutely believe they have the "right" to live in "Domestic Partnerships" should they choose to do so; but they don’t have the right to redefine marriage for all of us. I believe their choices unwise and unbiblical BUT they have that right. But don't call it a "marriage."

I do believe this is a moral issue because even as Jesus speaks on the issue of divorce (in Matthew 9:3-6) He speaks of us being created as male and female, and "what God has joined let no one separate." These are familiar words from the Marriage Service itself. For these reasons I believe we should vote Yes on Prop. 8.

My immediate apologies to those who believe a pastor or priest should never speak out on politics – this is my blog not the pulpit.

I have a high regard (as you know) for Pastor Rick Warren. Below you will find some comments that he sent me today with a link to a very short video clip. I commend them to you as I agree with him and could not have said what he says any better.


PLEASE VOTE! THIS IS ONE ISSUE WHERE YOUR VOTE COULD MAKE THE DIFFERENCE FOR THE FUTURE. AND PLEASE – IF YOU ARE ABLE – VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 8.