Questions regarding same-sex marriage are a hot button topic in Illinois
this election cycle – much of it has to do with the Vatican’s opposition in
this largely Roman Catholic heritage state.
In short, in response to the state of Illinois allowing civil unions, Illinois
Catholic Charities ceased their operations lest they be forced to place a child
for adoption with a gay or lesbian couple.
Also, the oft-P.R.-challenged Cardinal Francis George butted into a
situation pitting a gay-friendly Catholic congregation against the local LGBT
Pride Parade organization, accusing the local LGBT community of acting like the
KKK – an admittedly rather bizarre analogy.
Since I am the only practicing Mennonite that many people with whom I
interact know personally, I field a lot of questions regarding Mennonites and
Catholics, Mennonites and Mormons, or just plain old “What do Mennonites believe?”
In this case, I have started to field a number of questions regarding
Mennonites and their attitudes towards marriage and the LGBT community (please
recall that many Americans still confuse Mennonites and Mormons and wonder if
we still allow polygamy).
Regarding questions on Mennonite attitudes towards same-sex or gay
marriage, I am not sure that the Mennonites really have a “Mennonite” position
on this topic. Err – that is not to say
that I do not doubt that most if not all Anabaptists have definite and
committed opinions on the matter – only that there is not a clear philosophical
or value position to be derived from Anabaptist values. There is no denying that the majority of Mennonite conferences have published very clear anti-same-sex marriage position statements, but as to the proportion of accepting versus non-accepting Mennonites in general, or the actuality of personal and individual beliefs versus published church papers, remains somewhat coloured and in doubt.
