Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania

 

"Good morning!
This morning I am happy to be here, and sad to have to be here.
 
"I am happy that religious liberty is taking a stand today.
I am sad that most of the opposition is rooted in religious communities.
 
"We must make it clear however:
Religion is not threatened or endangered by justice.
Religion is not threatened or endangered by loving, committed, nurturing relationships.
Nor is religion threatened by truth.
 
"I speak to you today as the Chair of The Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania, a voice for people of faith and good will who understand that we are a very religious society, and we are also religiously a very diverse society.
 
"If we look upward at this moment, at this glorious rotunda that amplifies our voices this morning, we can take note of the four larger murals that frame the dome.
 
"Three of them highlight Pennsylvania's role in the development of oil, steel and coal.  The other one - the one directly behind me and directly facing most of you - highlights the quest for religious liberty that has played such a large part in the development of this Commonwealth. 
 
"Here in this Statehouse, the only one of these four murals that represents a principle other than economic power depicts the quest for Religious Liberty.
 
"Within this Commonwealth there are represented all the religious traditions of the world, and within each of those traditions - including Christianity - we have in our State a wide diversity of understanding as to how the teachings of  those religious traditions should be applied.
 
"It is very sad to think that in a Commonwealth founded upon the principle of Religious Liberty that religious voices would lend themselves to upholding discrimination.
 
"There are, among us, religious communities who do not wish to establish for themselves committed families centered upon same-gendered partners - and nothing in this legislation would force them to do so.
 
"There are other religious communities in our Commonwealth who ALREADY celebrate the creation of committed families centered upon same-gendered partners. This legislation would give those families the protections that will allow them to be stronger building blocks for our society.
 
"This legislation would also allow those families to be stronger building blocks for their own religious communities - religious communities who understand that families ultimately are defined by bonds of love, support and mutual commitment.
 
"We of the Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania believe that religion can and should have an inspiring, healing and supportive role in society - and at the same time we understand that religion can lead to narrowness and judgment.
 
"The way I sometimes put it is that the Flame of Faith can both enlighten and burn - and indeed more than once in history it has even burned people at the stake.
 
"We want to ensure the healing role of faith in society, while simultaneously widening the aperture through which all people of faith - and people of no faith - view each other.
 
"And when we take the long view of what marriage is and what families are, we see that marriage has evolved through the history of our society and of our religious traditions.
 
"No one seriously is calling for a return to Biblical marriage, for example, because in Biblical times marriage was a polygamous arrangement in which the husband ACQUIRED his woman.
 
"Eventually in the western world we came to affirm monogamy - but until relatively recently the man still ACQUIRED the wife, her rights and her property. 
 
"Even within living memory a bride routinely would vow to honor AND OBEY her husband.
 
"It is only very much in recent times that most of us have come to understand that marriage is a covenant between two EQUAL partners.
 
"We delude ourselves if we insist that the institution of marriage has NOT changed in its particulars throughout the generations.  But what has remained constant in any healthy form of marriage are the bonds of love and justice, nurturing support, and mutual obligation.
 
"As we have heard and will hear this morning, it is difficult for families to sustain themselves without the protections that come from larger social and legal recognition.  I want to mention one particular example that I have seen personally a number of times: the situation where a gay man or lesbian has created a family with a person of the same gender but not the same citizenship.  Because they cannot marry each other legally, the government will not recognize their relationship - and therefore they both cannot necessarily remain in the same country.
  
"In at least one case I know, the couple in question actually moved to another country, because that other country was the only nation where both of them could obtain permission to live and work.
 
"Unfortunately, it is those who talk the most about family values that are often working the hardest to place obstacles in the way of attempts such as these to establish families.
 
"Ultimately, it is because we value families that we know a bill like this is needed."