Saddened by aldermen’s decision
As a Baptist pastor, I am saddened by the decision of the Board of Aldermen to go back on its initial “Plus-One” insurance option. The separation of church and state is a historically Baptist principle which strives to prohibit exactly what we experienced at Tuesday night’s meeting: one group’s religious viewpoints dictating civil/social policies which will exclude or discriminate against people not in agreement with that one group’s beliefs.
Tuesday evening it was clear that one particular understanding of the Christian faith is in fact powerful enough to set in place civic policies of exclusion — with no regard to the economic and business-minded arguments of why the policies of inclusion are beneficial for all of our citizens, and with no regard for other Christian opinions, interpretations, and those of other or no religious views.
For a people of faith built upon self-sacrifice, service, and being “salt” to add flavor in the world, there is nothing biblical about bullying and dominating others.
But what saddens me even more is the false assumption that there is a division between “Christians” and people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, transgendered, etc. The reality is, there are LGBTQ Christians — lots of them! — who have a very deep and devout faith, and who love Jesus and treasure the Bible. They are my friends, my teachers, and some are my heroes of faith.
The aldermen’s decision and, more importantly, the words that were used and attitudes that were displayed, were harmful not just to some abstract gay movement “out there,” but to our neighbors, friends, family, co-workers, and yes, members of our churches.
There were many other Christians and, yes, other Christian pastors, in Starkville who were not celebrating a “Christian victory” Tuesday night, but rather were seeking to be the presence of Christ to real people who feel like they just had legislative stones hurled at them.
To my friends in the broader LGBTQ community in Starkville — there are many Christians all around you who love you, welcome you, and are happy that we can live together in our town.
To my Christian brothers and sisters in Starkville — let’s seek to be a little less like the self-righteous religious leaders who often stood in Jesus’ way and a little more like Jesus who showed that God prefers mercy over law anytime people are involved.
Bert Montgomery
Starkville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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