
verall reply:
The fact that fundamentalist Christianity has survived and is still around does not in any way negate the statement that it cannot withstand newness the world throws at it. It survives by resisting newness with strict rules for life and by attempting to explain all newness from within it's own context.
Lots of people do this same thing. When things change so much that the rules don't make sense, then people just forget to practice certain things. Christianity cannot change with the world unless it chooses to reinterpret its teachings to function in the current time period. Many varieties of Christian faith have done this. The fundemantalists will not. That is the point, not so much that Christianity is dying, or that it has not following etc.. Maybe rebellion isn't the best word, because it implys some level of exploration that fundamentalist Christianity certainly does not have (when thought of as rebelling youth, or rebellious people who seek change etc.)
dnugget said, "In the end the will of the people (majority) will win, and certain groups with less a voice will lose. That's they way it always has been and always will be." I beg to differ with that statement. The groups who have less voice must convince those with more that they need to be heard. We gave women the right to vote at a time when they had very little voice in the government. We abolished slavery at a time when almost no black person was taken seriously as a peer to a white one. This country does not funciton on majority rule.. it was specifically set up
not to sway with the whims of the majority in fact. A pure democracy would, but we are a representative democracy. Part of the rationale for this was that whole Plato idea of the majority being plebians that were not necessarily of the right level of education to be making decisions for the country. (heavily euphamized). We can lobby our representatives as minority or majority, and it is up to them to make laws in an ethical manner with this input. I certainly hope that minority groups have a voice in our government. If you really think they should have none, then well, nothing much to say about that.
The relative "newness" of gay marriage isn't really the point I was trying to make. There are all kinds of things that challenge fundamentalist Christianity. This is but another, as was abortion, drinking, women's rights, etc.. I am saying that with each issue, the government has made the correct choice (IMHO) and fallen on the side of secular ethics in the interest of the larger populace. I am hopeful that this issue will have the same result.
Finally, there are several references to the "gays" ignoring laws etc., and being rebellious. If one is presented with a structure in which they fundamentally do not fit, then I think rebellion is to be expected. I think it's really important to remember that a lot of people don't give a whit about Christian rules for their life, and there really isn't any reason why they should. As a Christian, you can tell them about the rules, but I really hope we as humans can move beyond the whole force people to live as my religion thing. It would be a much more peaceful world if we could methinks.