Here's an article by a lay Orthodox theologian critical of legal bans against sodomite marriage:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-j-dunn-phd/why-christian-activism-against-gay-marriage-is-not-christian_b_1509200.html
I'm not going to evaluate his arguments, such as they are. Rather, I'm curious to see if he will be subjected to church discipline. Will his priest or bishop take appropriate action? If not, then it doesn't matter what the traditional position of Eastern Orthodoxy regarding marriage happens to be on paper.
Why would he be disciplined? Are Orthodox believers expected to attempt to codify their beliefs into law in every nation on Earth, regardless of the framework upon which those laws are built?
ReplyDelete"We believe contraception is immoral, therefore the sale of it should be illegal regardless of what the Protestants and non-Christians think about the matter."
Maybe that is the expectation.
I suspect it has little to do with morality but rather a desire for political power and for the wealth and ease that this level of control over world governments provides.
James
ReplyDelete"Why would he be disciplined? Are Orthodox believers expected to attempt to codify their beliefs into law in every nation on Earth, regardless of the framework upon which those laws are built?"
Eastern Orthodoxy doesn't have separation of church and state. Remember the Justinian code. Remember that ecumenical councils were convened by emperors. Remember that heresy was a crime.
I'm not saying if that's good or bad. But if modern Orthodoxy is going to take the position of Barry Lynn, then it ceases to be Orthodox.
Seriously? It is true that Orthodoxy has been a state religions at various points in history. But it hardly requires it. Or even necessarily advocates it.
ReplyDeleteYou're indulging in a revisionist version of Eastern Orthodoxy.
DeleteRubbish. What do you think EO believes about the first 3 centuries?
DeleteRubbish. What do you think EO believes about the first 3 centuries?
DeleteWhy don't you tell us, since you think this fact is somehow relevant.
I guess John is suggesting that for the first three centuries of church history, the Eastern Orthodox were Anabaptists! :-)
ReplyDeleteTo state the obvious: EO believe they are the church of the first three centuries, and that it was not a state religion.
ReplyDeleteTo state the obvious, that confuses historical exigencies with ecclesiology. Needless to say, once the EO were in a political position to make Christianity the state religion, they did.
ReplyDeleteEO has never made itself the state religion. The state decides what is the state religion.
ReplyDeleteAnd I might add, mainline Protestantism loved being the state religion too.
ReplyDelete