Comparing Political Platforms (5) Human Relationship in Life and Sex

Here’s another section–human relationship and sex–that the Libertarian Platform addresses head-on and succinctly. Whether you agree with the content, surely we can agree on its being to the point. It gets unpacked in different ways by the DNC Platform and the RNC Platform and these differences are well worth noting.

DNC	Democrats applaud last year’s decision by the Supreme Court that recognized that LGBT people—like other Americans—have the right to marry the person they love. But there is still much work to be done. LGBT kids continue to be bullied at school, restaurants can refuse to serve transgender people, and same-sex couples are at risk of being evicted from their homes. That is unacceptable and must change. Democrats will fight for the continued development of sex discrimination law to cover LGBT people. We will also fight for comprehensive federal nondiscrimination protections for all LGBT Americans, to guarantee equal rights in areas such as housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, jury service, education, and federal funding. We will oppose all state efforts to discriminate against LGBT individuals, including legislation that restricts the right to access public spaces. We support a progressive vision of religious freedom that respects pluralism and rejects the misuse of religion to discriminate. We will combat LGBT youth homelessness and improve school climates. We will support LGBT elders, ensure access to necessary health care, and protect LGBT people from violence—including ending the crisis of violence against transgender Americans. We will also promote LGBT human rights and ensure America’s foreign policy is inclusive of LGBT people around the world. (p.19)
LP	Sexual orientation, preference, gender, or gender identity should have no impact on the government’s treatment of individuals, such as in current marriage, child custody, adoption, immigration or military service laws. Government does not have the authority to define, license or restrict personal relationships. Consenting adults should be free to choose their own sexual practices and personal relationships.
RNC	Traditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a free society and has for millennia been entrusted with rearing children and instilling cultural values. We condemn the Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Windsor, which wrongly removed the ability of Congress to define marriage policy in federal law. We also condemn the Supreme Court’s lawless ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which in the words of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was a “judicial Putsch” — full of “silly extravagances” — that reduced “the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Storey to the mystical aphorisms of a fortune cookie.” In Obergefell, five unelected lawyers robbed 320 million Americans of their legitimate constitutional authority to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The Court twisted the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment beyond recognition. To echo Scalia, we dissent. (p.11) Our First Amendment rights are not given to us by the government but are rights we inherently possess. The government cannot use subsequent amendments to limit First Amendment rights. The Free Exercise Clause is both an individual and a collective liberty protecting a right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience. Therefore, we strongly support the freedom of Americans to act in accordance with their religious beliefs, not only in their houses of worship, but also in their everyday lives. (p.12)

Leave people to their own devices and what do you get?

Usually de Vices.

human relationships and the law So, to what degree should we have any laws to circumscribe the boundaries of socially beneficial behaviors?

Biology aligns with God’s ideal as laws of nature, but even that becomes a point of conflict when changes–cultural, political and scientific–are pursued in defiance of nature for an individual to receive (by legislation) what nature’s law excludes as helpful for advancing the species. Our main point of disagreement is in the area of one person’s insistence upon “rights” that are not God-given as if they were. Cut to the chase and this forms the crux of disagreement.

In Christian terms, how can we be a neighbor to our fellow man while holding onto our own integrity? And how can we honor all the blessings given by God to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? This blessing in the form of a command was given to individuals for the sake of community so that we would be fruitful and multiply, extending God’s rule over the face of the earth. How do we love God and love neighbor simultaneously?

The whole book of Leviticus—in our Old Testament Law–is designed for that purpose.

In Exodus, God gave us Ten Commandments which were simple enough. But the entire book of Leviticus unpacks those Commandments, teaching us the boundaries of how to live in a community, and to identify socially beneficial and godly behaviors, suitable for the Christian and the God-fearers of generations before Jesus Christ.

Oh, they’re suitable for the rest of us too, but not everyone is willing to admit that. Political priorities get in the way and result in a nation divided on human relationships and the law.

So, Christian, which of the party platforms reflects God’s priorities in this area?

Laws in the United States don’t always reflect God’s priorities and we may very well be in a season of judgment for that reason. It wouldn’t be the first time in human history that God judged a nation for the sins of the people and the sins of its rulers. The Passover (selectively punishing Egypt to deliver Israel), the wilderness wandering (selectively preserving the innocent but letting the faithless die outside of the Promised Land), and the Exile (preserving a remnant) are but three examples.

Personal relationships and human sexuality are clearly laid bare in Leviticus 18 and the consequences are well defined (for both the native-born and the alien, in and out of the community of faith). Leviticus 18:24 “‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled.” 25 Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, 27 for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. 28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. 29 “‘Everyone who does any of these detestable things– such persons must be cut off from their people. 30 Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.'”