Remember a time when the Church approved of gay marriage?

[Stormwarden]

I don't, but they do. It was up until the 16th century, and in fact, two of their patron saints are depicted in such a fashion (with Christ as the best man) :

http://www.iheartchaos.com/post/22806986381/the-time-when-same-sex-marriage-was-a-christian-rite

I find that the very fact that the evidence for this comes straight from THE RCC's archives makes this even more ironic. I found this article quite enlightening. That there was a time that gay marriage wasn't the big deal everyone makes it out to be now, and that it was in the early centuries of the church. May I suggest we all save a copy of this article, or at least fave it? Might be useful to use against the fundies' war on everything fun.

[Smurfette Principle]

I have it in my Tumblr precisely to use against fundies later.

[Askold]

Some researcher also claimed that the orthodox church had done a gay marriage centuries ago. But that research had only found the one case and church officials claimed that it was a misunderstanding, the two men had had their "friendship blessed" by the church and it was not a marriage.


(Unfortunately I don't have a link to that case. I'll see if I can find it.)

[TheUnknown]

Some researcher also claimed that the orthodox church had done a gay marriage centuries ago. But that research had only found the one case and church officials claimed that it was a misunderstanding, the two men had had their "friendship blessed" by the church and it was not a marriage.


(Unfortunately I don't have a link to that case. I'll see if I can find it.)

The claims of it being a misunderstanding remind me of claims that say the King James Bible toned down David and Jonathan's relationship, even editing a passage where they supposedly kissed to them just shaking hands.

[Shane for Wax]

I swear I posted about those two on the old forum... either way I wish the original article wasn't 404.

[N. De Plume]

Some researcher also claimed that the orthodox church had done a gay marriage centuries ago. But that research had only found the one case and church officials claimed that it was a misunderstanding, the two men had had their "friendship blessed" by the church and it was not a marriage.


(Unfortunately I don't have a link to that case. I'll see if I can find it.)

The claims of it being a misunderstanding remind me of claims that say the King James Bible toned down David and Jonathan's relationship, even editing a passage where they supposedly kissed to them just shaking hands.

According to Religious Tolerance.org, it was actually the Living Bible. I can’t currently find an excerpt from that particular version. Though New Living Translation turns the kiss into an embrace.

My favorite bit from Religious Tolerance:

The original Hebrew text says that they kissed each other and wept together until David became large. The word which means "became large" in this passage is "gadal" in the original Hebrew. The same word is used elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures to refer to King Solomon being greater than all other kings. Some theologians interpret "gadal" in this verse as indicating that David had an erection. However, the thoughts of David becoming sexually aroused after kissing Jonathan may have been too threatening for Bible translators. They either deleted the ending entirely or created one of their own.

[Osama bin Bambi]

David was a dacryphiliac?

[jlujan69]

I have it in my Tumblr precisely to use against fundies later.

Won't work unless it's against a Fundy who doesn't know the Bible. Fundies don't typically give church traditions the same authority as the Bible. It may work against a Catholic or Orthodox denomination, however.