Gay Marriage and Religious Pluralism Essay Sample

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Gay Marriage and Religious Pluralism
Gay marriage has been one of the most controversial, highly-debated societal issues today. Even in a very liberal and modern country like the United States, the sanctity of gay marriage is still widely in question while some other politicians and social activists arguing against its legalization. Some detractors say that gay marriage is a cultural deviation and that it is against the Biblical precepts, which contends that marriage is an institution that needs to be respected. As such, the definition of marriage, which is, a union between a man and a woman, should be preserved and not at all cost, be tainted by cultural or social avant-gardism. For instance, Benjamin Carson, a republican potential Presidential candidate for 2016 election, verbalized about how gay marriage should not be decided by the juries of the Supreme Court or by juries of state or local judiciary but should be decided based on popular referendum. This is perhaps due to Carson’s belief that there are still many people in America who value the cultural and historical definition of marriage: a union between a man and a woman. In essence, the bulk of the arguments against gay marriage are largely grounded on religious contexts – that gay marriage should not be legalized because it is against the will of God. Indeed, if taken in legalistic principles of religion, gay marriage does not qualify at all. However, in the age of religious pluralism, the contention may be relatively different: the concept of marriage can no longer depend on a single truth that comes from the Bible but from many truths that arise from the society.
The most critical point that every person should understand is how marriage is being defined nowadays. Of course, in popular belief, marriage only exists when a man and a woman united together in a holy matrimony. But the main argument is that no one can argue against the validity of gay marriage if the only basis for that argument is the Bible. First, it is impossible for someone to infer that gay marriage is not valid if the basis for that conclusion is not a universal consensus. For example, there are people who do not believe in God – call them atheists or deists, they do exist. The fact that there are people who don’t believe in God means that truth based on the Bible is limited only to those who believe that the Bible is the sole basis for truth. Unfortunately, not everyone believes in the Bible. In essence, the mere declaration of gay marriage as immoral or sinful is only significant to those who believe in the Bible. Furthermore, atheists and deists would absolutely differ from religious foundations of marriage and would instead use their own notion of marriage.
The gist of this argument is that it is impossible for someone to get everyone to agree on a single truth when religious perspectives have become as varied as ever. It is not lawful, much less, ethical for someone to compel another to believe a concept that is personally valid and is not universally accepted. Gay marriage may be sinful for Christians; nevertheless, in the eyes of those who embrace religious pluralism, and who holds a different religious perspective from Christians, gay marriage is valid.