Letters to the Editor: Redux

(Back from a week of continuing education, and I'm hard at work on several new posts that will start showing up here over the next couple of weeks.  It is good to be back!  -E.A.)

This is not the first time I have sent off a letter to the editor of The Daily News, Longview's local paper, but I am sure this second time is apt to be the more controversial one, since I and four other wonderful local clergy co-wrote and signed the letter with were speaking of Referendum 74, the marriage equality measure that is on the Washington state ballot this November.  The letter, which is in part a response to TDN's own editorial which declined to support marriage equality, is reprinted here below, and you can also find the letter on the TDN website here.

While this is a strongly-held opinion of mine that is shaped by my faith, I do not pretend that my word is ever the last word.  What do you think of the argument we made here?  How could it be improved or critiqued?  Perhaps most importantly, does it speak to you?

Yours in Christ,
Eric


Clergy for same-sex marriage

It goes without saying how divisive marriage equality is right now in Washington — and in America. We take to heart the belief in your editorial of Sept. 28 that "there are sincere, intelligent, and responsible people on both sides of this issue." However, as clergy serving in Cowlitz County, we have arrived at a profoundly different conclusion.

We surely know our Scripture, and what Leviticus and Romans say about same-sex intercourse. Nevertheless, Scripture does not explicitly instruct regarding same-sex marriage, and as clergy, we see our role in instituting marriage as a role of endorsing love, not merely sexual relations. To reduce marriage to an endorsement of sex cheapens marriage. It is, and must always be, a celebration of love first and foremost.

We disagree with the TDN editorial board that legalizing same-sex marriage between two loving, monogamous partners is a marriage "variant" that would inevitably lead to polygamy. That sort of "slippery slope" argument has been utilized against all sorts of social progress throughout history, including, it should be noted, interracial marriage in the 20th century. Monogamous love is something that marriage can and should uphold, and ordaining marriage for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ would not change that.

Rev. Eric Atcheson
Rev. Meghan Davis
Rev. Rene Devantier
Rev. Kathleen Patton
Rev. Shelley Willem

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