The "Secular" State

I penned a response to the Spokesman's criticisms of my stance against the recent legislation in Coeur d'Alene that publicly legitimizes various abnormal sexual practices and penalizes those who oppose them. You can find the response here.

The point that I've endeavored to make is that if "anti-discrimination" is really what the law is about, then certainly the boundaries of the law should be expanded. The testimony from the LGBT community typically states, "I've felt so ostracized within the community; I've had to endure the stigma of being engaged in unacceptable behavior; this shouldn't be the case." It is routinely an appeal to pity. But that same type of argumentation can be used for those who practice other sexual abnormalities.

My point in all this is that there is no such thing as the "secular" state. All states enforce and sanction morality - law by its very nature is enforced morality. The only question is which morality will be enforced. But because so many, even so many Christians, have bought into the lie of the "secular" state, when these moral questions arise for consideration they have no framework within which to address the issue. How can I enforce my personal moral convictions on others?

There are a couple things to keep in mind when asking this question: first, these are not "personal moral convictions" but the moral law of the universe woven into the fabric of the world and of humans in particular by our Creator. We can spurn these laws but we do so at our peril. Second, it is important to distinguish, as Scripture does, between sins and crimes. Not all sinful actions are criminal actions. Hence, "enforcing morality" does not mean that police would be perusing the neighborhood looking for all those who call their brother, "Raca!" (Mt 5:21ff) As Christians we should be quite comfortable leaving the judgment of sins to God while upholding the necessity of a society that criminalizes behavior God Himself judges to be such. Some sins are criminal: murder, theft, adultery, perjury, kidnapping, etc. They destroy the very fabric of society and invite God's judgment.