Saturday Q&A: Same-sex weddings are 'anarchist'

By M.L. LYKE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The thousands of same-sex newlyweds who have tied the knot in San Francisco's City Hall in recent days are anarchists, to the mind of Pastor Joseph Fuiten.

"This shows a high disregard for America. When you have leaders of government, as in the mayor of San Francisco, flaunting the law, we call that anarchy. This is really an anarchists' movement," says the 54-year-old senior pastor at Cedar Park Assembly of God Church.


Rae Holtsbaum / P-I
Pastor Joe Fuiten of the Cedar Park Church in Bothell.
In his two decades at the Bible-based Bothell church, Fuiten has established branch churches, private schools and counseling centers and helped launch the Christian TV station Channel 20 in Seattle.

The guiding philosophy of his church, he says, is "to do the work of God in all its forms. We try to be as wide as God."

What is your reaction to President Bush's statement that "marriage is between a man and a woman"?

That is absolutely correct. The president has been very clear that he believes marriage is between a man and woman. He has been very strong, and I appreciate his leadership on that subject.

What is your church's position on legalizing same-sex marriage?

We would be opposed. In our view, homosexuality is a sin. Therefore, a sin ought not to be given social sanction or social blessing.

And same-sex civil unions?



I don't think we're interested in depriving anyone of opportunity, of housing, of a job, of the chance to have a life -- but a civil union, what's the point of that? It's not necessary. It doesn't accomplish anything.

What role should government play in marriage?

I often ask myself why do you even need to get a permit from the government to get married. I have no idea, except that historically, we have viewed the government as a valid partner in the social process, and since marriage is a social relationship, I can accept that they have a role in it.

Is it your contention that the Bible condemns homosexuality?

Without any doubt. First of all, in the law, it says a man should not lie with another man as one lies with a woman.

In the biblical law, homosexuality is always condemned. It is never sanctioned. It is called a "detestable" practice. That's what God called it in the Old Testament. ...

No one who knows anything of biblical history can ever say the Bibles condones homosexuality in any way. If they say that, they're lying. They're warping the Bible to an enormous degree.

What do you think Jesus would say about gay love? Gay marriage?

First of all, he would love them. Second, he would encourage them toward healthy relationships.

Do you agree with the conservatives pushing for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage?

It would be one answer to the problem. Our problem is not the public, not the view of citizens or vote of legislature -- our problem is activist judges. You get four people who have profoundly liberal views -- and they now rule the world. It's nothing but King George dressed up in judicial robes. It's judicial tyranny.

Some people contend allowing two women or two men to marry damages the institution of marriage. Your response?

It changes it. It destroys it. Marriage contemplates a lifelong relationship between a man and a woman that results in children, grandchildren and family. The gay sex thing says, 'We love each other, we're just like you, you should allow us to be just like you and marry.' But they're not just like me because they can't have children in the natural course of things.

How do you think same-sex marriages might affect society in the long term?

The chances of it being very harmful are very high. If we legitimize same-sex marriage in law, then we have to legitimize it in education. So we have to take our public institutions, like schools, and hold this marriage up as equal, as being equally beneficial for the raising of children and development of healthy human beings. Well, that cannot be shown. That has not been shown.

Say two men adopt a girl, and raise her as their child -- are we prepared to say that for that girl to grow up with two dads and no mother has no social consequence? That's what you'd have to be able to say -- that it's the same. That would then say that being a mother does not matter, that there is no inherent value in being a mother in the female sense.

We are buying something that could very well destroy our society in the long run.

We're flying in the face of all human history.

from
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