This Law is a waste of Time and Money!
Rep. Kevin Tanner plans to carry a bill to the next
legislative session which claims that it will protect pastors from being
required to perform a marriage ceremony for a same sex couple in their
church. The problem with this bill is
that all pastors and for that matter clergy in all religions are already
afforded that right by the 1st Amendment of the United States
Constitution. So why would we waste
taxpayer money and the legislative sessions time in presenting this bill? Tanner says it is because the Supreme Court
decision making same sex marriage legal in all 50 states requires this bill.
My mother-in-laws’ priest at her church in North Carolina
anticipated concerns from his congregation about the Supreme Court decision. He called a meeting after services on Sunday
to explain what the Supreme Court Decision meant. He explained that he was
under no obligation to perform any service for anyone if he is not comfortable
with it. The congregation was
satisfied. A friend who is a retired
minister said the same thing and added that most churches have as part of their
ecclesiastical law, which are the laws governing the affairs of a Christian
church, that clergy do not have to perform services which are against their conscience. Pastor Beth LaRocca-Pitts in Atlanta stated
that “You can’t be forced to do a wedding against your will, as a pastor of any
faith or tradition, here in the United States.”
Tanner says the protections offered by the first amendment
are not codified in Georgia. But the US
Constitution takes precedence over any other laws in any states so why does
this need to be done!
Again, I ask why? It
seems to me the only reason for this law is that SOME Georgians want to make
sure that the LGBT community knows they are not welcome or liked in their
churches in this state. If that is the
message of “love” that they want to send, then so be it.
