Today the Supreme Court has taken a giant step towards equality by striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This is truly a landmark case. It is likely the turning of the tide towards legalization of same-sex marriage in more and more states (though it's important to remember that it does NOT change marriage laws in states that have not legalized it). But we must remember two important points today.
1. History teaches us that laws change some minds but not all minds. This very week a celebrity chef has lost her job because of allegedly racist comments and Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, was subjected to sexist comments at a shareholders' meeting. The civil rights movement was supposed to change these kinds of things. Progress has been made, but clearly much work remains to be done. Similarly, striking down DOMA is a landmark but not a final destination.
2. The DOMA decision is a secular decision, not a Christian decision. The law of Christ (to love God with our whole being and to love others as ourselves) is not the same thing as the law of the land. Even when (and I hope it's a when not if) the laws of all states are changed to recognize full equality our churches will still have to wrestle with what God and the Bible say.
As a Christian who supports full inclusion, I believe today should be a day for celebration. Tomorrow should be a day to get back to work. For perhaps the first time in western history, the faith community as a whole is far behind the world around us in treating all people as sisters and brothers with the same rights. We have a lot of catching up to do. As a faith community, the Supreme Court decision should remind us of how much work there is to do and also give us confidence that progress can continue to be made.
