8 December 2004

Civil unions and personal feelings

We notice that some MPs debating the civil union bill in parliament are voting on the basis of their personal feelings about family members. NZ First MP Brian Donnelly referred to his gay brother, saying that his family accepted his brother in a "non-negotiable and unconditional" way. Minister of Maori affairs, Parakura Horomia also linked his support for civil unions to his relationship to gay whanau. National MP Clem Simich supports civil unions although he says this is not because he has a 32-year-old homosexual son. Still, we cannot but think it is a factor, because Simich appealed to human rights as the justification for civil unions, and presumably his primary concern would be specifically for the human rights of his son.

Others who debated the bill, such as Ron Mark, have alluded to homosexual friends and/or family members. Of course, one understands how MPs with such connections might be emotionally swayed to support civil unions, but this is not how MPs should make decisions. MPs should vote according to the universal principles of right and wrong, which are defined in the Bible and written on the heart of everyman (Romans 2:14-15). We know instinctively that homosexuality is wrong. This evaluation is confirmed by Scripture (1 Cor. 6:9).
Of course, those MPs who vote for homosexual marriage, which is what a “civil union” amounts to, will say that their conscience is clear and they are not contradicting their conscience when they vote for the bill. However, the Bible has something to say on this also. It is possible to be so hard of heart that your conscience is effectively seared like a piece of meat on a hot element. Paul writing to Timothy talks of those who “by means of the hypocrisy of liars [are] seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).

It is possible for those who have even claimed to be pious in the past, or who still claim to be Christians or righteous people, to have their consciences seared to the degree that they are desensitised to moral wrongdoing or evil. When our MPs have arrived at this point, we cannot but tremble at the sort of nation and society we will turn into. Of course, politicians are not the only ones to blame for this sorry state of affairs.

The responsibility for all this social engineering and legislating for moral evil rests ultimately with all New Zealanders who voted these people into power. They effectively gave their candidates a blank cheque to tinker with our cherished values and ideals.

After all, the values of a government will usually mirror the ethical standards of the electorate who put them there. If parliament passes this legislation, we must all hang our heads in shame if we have contributed in anyway to a process whereby homosexuality is granted a legal cloak of respectability and thereby normalised by our representatives who vote with seared consciences.

ENDS

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