You can be Christian and support gay marriage

Interpreting the Bible is an immensely difficult task.

For a start, differing Christian denominations accept different books within the Canon – and because there are several different versions of the Bible it is difficult to know where to begin.

But being a biblical scholar – and I am not one – means more than drawing meaning from the version of the version you happen to own. You must take into account the numerous translations from different forms of Aramaic, Greek, Latin, early English and, finally, modern English. You must also take into account the etymology of each written word, and how their usage has changed over the millennia in each of those languages.

You must also take into account the conclusions of the Councils at Nicea, Rome, Hippo and Carthage where the Canon was developed – deciding which books should be included and which should be excluded. Then you have to understand why those books were included and excluded.

In short, reading the Bible is an academic minefield. Fighting through 2000 years of translations, etymology and political decisions made by the Church is a task too great for anyone with even the most humble desire for a social life.

What we are left with is a collection of books too complex to find original meaning. If you want to find support for any action, good or evil, you will find it sanctioned in the Bible somewhere. It is impossible to live by all of the teachings in the Bible, even if you wanted to. All you can do is read them, and hope they inspire you to do good.

How we interpret the Bible says as much about us as it does those who first wrote it.

The gay community, of which I am not a part, continues its righteous fight for marriage equality, and as a Christian I despair at the Church’s response. They choose to invoke Leviticus 18:22 when they could choose Galatians 3:28 or even the old Sunday School favourite Matthew 22:39. Indeed, the New Testament is packed with inspirational parables and messages of love, compassion and equality – but when it comes to gay equality, they choose to ignore them.

I find it a struggle to explain to fellow party members why I am a Christian – I have often felt that there is a general intolerance towards Christians that is not applied to the more-likely-to-vote-Labour Muslim community. The extraordinary work that Christians, inspired by their faith, do in feeding the hungry, taking care of the sick, raising money for charity and binding communities together often go unnoticed. Instead, for those on the outside of the Church, it appears as though Christianity has become defined as a faith opposed to gay rights or obsessed with abortion. That is the Church’s fault.

The truth is that the New Testament, which takes precedence in the Christian faith, does not say a lot about being gay. Whilst unions of ‘men and women’ are mentioned, it is difficult to see it as a slur on homosexuality. Jesus did, however, explicitly preach the tolerance, love, respect, forgiveness and equality that are often missing from the Church’s modern commands. Jesus, in fact, was a pretty liberal sort of man.

Certain biblical instructions on sexual morality remain a social taboo – adultery and lust (or in modern parlance, ‘being pervy’ – see Matthew 5:28) are to this day socially unacceptable. But many Christian views on sexual morality came much later than the time of Jesus – the Council of Elivira in 306 first introduced celibacy for Clergymen, and Saint Thomas Aquinas’ teachings on Natural Law in the 13^th Century remain highly influential, as does the 20^th century Second Vatican Council. These were human, not divine teachings. The politicians and philosophers who have run the Church over the past 2000 years introduced their own laws and rules that were often more rooted in their personal values than biblical foundation.

But herein lies the great mistake made by the Church. Gay rights is not an issue of sexual morality. It is, in fact, far more to do with the fundamental human instinct that Jesus himself taught – love. Pure, simple, love.

As a Christian, I’m relaxed what St Thomas Aquinas would have to say. I care not for how the translators interpreted those original texts or how they could be abused by those willing to do so. I’m more interested in thinking about what Jesus would say. Whether you believe he was the Son of God or not, it would take the coldest of hearts to say he was not, at least, an exceptionally decent man. For me, I choose to believe that nothing would make Jesus, or God himself, happier than two people, any two people, coming together in Holy Matrimony.

Understanding the true detail of the Christian faith is astonishingly difficult, but believing in the core teachings of Jesus is a more simple task. Perhaps it is time for the Church to adopt those core teachings and finally love one another without discrimination. Afterall, ‘whoever loves God, must also love his brothers and sisters’ (John 3:21).