This will be remembered as the week that the silent majority of decent people of faith in this country stood up to the Bible thumpers who give them a bad name.
Polling now shows that a majority of Australian Christians support same-sex marriage, while there are now literally dozens of Australian clergy on the record as supporters of marriage equality – and whole denominations that want the right to wed same-sex couples in the same way that the state currently allows them to marry opposite sex couples.
The Christian Right can no longer claim to speak for Australians of faith in this debate. They can only speak for themselves.
And this is by no means the first time that progressive people of faith, those that seek the spirit of the law over the letter of the law, have played a vital role in our struggle.
Progressive Christians played important roles in arguing for the decriminalisation of homosexuality across the developed world in decades past, and men of faith like retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Uganda鈥檚
Bishop Christopher Senjonyo continue to lead the fight against intolerance on the African continent.
The support of progressive people of faith has also been vital to the success of campaigns for same-sex marriage across North America and Europe.
Indeed true Christian tolerance and acceptance played a nurturing role in the very birth of the movement for the rights of same-sex attracted people.
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, the world鈥檚 first activist for the rights of those who would later become known as gay, lesbian, bisexuals, transgender and intersex people, was born into an observant Lutheran family in the Kingdom of Hanover on August 28, 1825.
When baptised Ulrichs had two ministers for godfathers and his favourite grandfather was a church superintendent.
Ulrichs uncle, a pastor, was responsible for encouraging him to study law, against the wishes of his mother.
Ulrichs confessed his same-sex attraction to his family in 1854, and despite their religiosity was not rejected, and he was soon sending them regular letters outlining his theories about what made people like him the way they were.
By 1864 he had published his first manifesto on the rights of the people he called 鈥淯rnings,鈥� and on August 29, 1867, became the first person in the world to come out of the closet politically before the Association of German Jurists in Munich.
Next week marks the anniversary of both Ulrichs鈥� birth and political coming out, and to honour that this paper will be publishing a more in depth account of Ulrichs鈥� life and achievements.
Thanks for that marvellous post Andrew. It goes some way to restore my faith in people. Surely (I thought) not all Christians could possibly be so blatantly anti- Christian as was apparent from the broad spectrum of hateful views that have been appearing out of the woodwork lately from certain ‘Christian’ lobbies.
I’m truly glad to hear that there are many Christian people out there, who, like many of us other ordinary Australians see the justice and the right of allowing gay people to demonstrate their love for one another through marriage – if that is their wish.
Keep up the good work.