Oregon’s Measure 9

Baker suffers from the classic evangelical dilemma: How to reconcile an ideology based on Old Testament law with Christ’s admonition to love in a complex and evolving world. Baker has control over the first two of these three elements, his interpretation of Old Testamentlaw and the choice to love; but on the last element--our complex and evolving world--Baker has little say. The world will continue to evolve despite what any individual or segment of society thinks or says.

Evangelicals often evoke the construct of “loving the sinner but hating the sin” when trying to reconcile Christ’s call to love with the perceived social intolerance of Old Testament law. As a homosexual who’s been on the receiving end of that construct from my parents for years, I can tell you it’s nothing but a self-serving rationalization.

Actually, that construct displays a willingness to shortchange Christ’s teaching of love in order to maintain a simplistic view of social order. A view of social order that is not based on objective analysis but on a personal interpretation of a 2,500-year-old book written by unknown authors.

BRYAN STEELE

Laguna Beach