Why I Support Obama

Yesterday Barack Obama came out in support of gay marriage. As the first sitting president to ever declare this, it is a huge step forward. As many people know there is a huge backlash against the issue in America, especially amongst Christians who view the issue to be controversial and against their beliefs. For many Christians the issue of homosexuality is still not something that they are ready to accept, which to me as a Christian is something I find hard to accept.

I am in no way going to deny that in the Bible it does not say that homosexuality should not be practiced as that would be a lie, but it is not the main message of the religious text. As a Christian you are taught that love and respect for others is just as important as many other issues. People who have no religious beliefs are also taught this but it seems that Christians find it a lot harder to remember this message. I have been raised in a religious household my entire life and I have found that it has enriched me, but I have been very lucky that my Baptist mother has willed me to believe in what I want to believe.

I once asked my mum if civil partnerships in the UK bothered her at all to which she replied, "It doesn't effect my life. I'd much rather people were happy than sad". A simple statement but one which I wish that many other Christians would come to accept. I would not say I am a highly practicing Christian (I don't like going to church) but I do let my religion guide me in certain situations. It gives me comfort and supports me when I'm feeling lost. For the hardcore Christian right in America, I think they have lost their way. They focus so much on hate that they have forgotten what love is.

People are criticising Obama for supporting gay marriage when he himself is a Christian. I'm sure as a Christian though he no longer condones stoning and cutting off the hands of those who steal. I have found that I pick and choose which parts of the Bible I wish to adhere to, as times have changed since the era of BC and if religion cannot move forward then it will lose it's place in society. I wish that more of those people in America who spend so much time and money making other people's lives a misery eventually remember what the main message of the Bible is: love. If they think that homosexuality is a sin, then I hope that they have never ever sinned in their life...

- "If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."

-  1 John 4:20