# We don't do gay wedding or mixed race because of our Christian race **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 3, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625 "2019-09-03T14:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/21 "2019-09-03T22:32:47Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > My understanding of the Tower of Babel story is this… > > Following the Flood, humanity was concentrated into one group of people descended from those on the Ark. They were united in purpose and decided that they were going to build a tower tall enough to reach Heaven, and by implication were equating themselves with God. > > God didn’t care for this situation and to humble them he splintered them into smaller groups of people by preventing them from all speaking the same language. Without being able to communicate they couldn’t continue their project or act as one united group any more, so they abandoned their efforts, went separate ways, and no longer felt they could equal God in their ability to build great works. > > The story has two goals. One is to explain why different languages exist in the world. If God wants everyone to be united in religion and morality, why wouldn’t he let them talk to each other? The other is to serve as a parable about arrogance and believing too strongly in the power of humanity over God. > > I assume that an interpretation of this story as meaning that people who are different shouldn’t commingle is simply trying to find Biblical justification for racism or any other kind of bigotry. You might as well declare that multilingualism is unholy. And forget about missionaries! I didn’t get into the “equating themselves with God” aspect but one justification against interracial marriage was that it could happen again. And sure it’s a justification for racism. My mom is a Baptist. But she is kind and loving and forgiving and non-judgemental. Ya know, the way Jesus said Christians should be? I heard the interpretation above from her when I was young. Now, many years ago my brother was dating an Asian girl. And one day my dad said to be that he didn’t know if Mom would want an Asian grandchild. Some years after that my other brother married a woman from Japan. Eventually she had a child and a couple of years later another, and Mom has loved those children as much as any grandmother could ever love a grandchild. She had changed her mind and her beliefs (this happened before my brother and his wife started dating, I’m not sure what lead to that) . I don’t know of many of these so-called Christians out there who ever change their mind about anything. Like my uncle, who disowned his daughter when she married a black man. Refused to speak to her or have anything to do with his granddaughter. Maybe the people in the OP have learned something about what they believe. I guess they have in this instance, but for other things, I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/22 "2019-09-03T22:33:50Z")
For the most part, we do not try to align our will with God’s, but align God’s will with ours. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/23 "2019-09-03T22:54:17Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Many years ago, in a conversation with an American fundamentalist preacher (a missionary type who was a pastor of a Church of the Brethren church in Seoul), the old fart told me that he would not conduct inter-racial marriages because the Bible forbids it. I was too stunned to ask where in the Bible that was. So, it’s not just the bigoted fool in this OP who adheres to such nonsense. What gets me is that there are still people today who think that way. > > Oh, and when I’ve heard the Tower of Babel story used to justify it, I pointed out how God miraculously had the speech of the Apostles (you know, actual Christian messengers) translated so that all who heard them could understand in their own language. That should tell the bigots something, but of course it flies over their feeble minds. > > Generally, it’s another part of the Bible they use, though. I can’t remember which part right now. In the “All in the Family” episode with Sammy Davis, Archie explained that he didn’t have a problem with integration, but clearly God did: he put white people in Europe, and black people in Africa. To which Davis replied, “Well, he must’ve told you where we were, because someone came and got us.” ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/24 "2019-09-03T23:22:34Z")
Reminds me of a joke about an old preacher. Someone asked him if sex standing up was wrong. He thought about it for a minute and said, “Yes, because it could lead to dancing.” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/25 "2019-09-04T00:03:43Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > The Bible is definitely the one of the best books possible for standing up to the schemes of imaginary entities and spiders. Particularly Boris the Spider. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/26 "2019-09-04T00:31:32Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > Now, many years ago my brother was dating an Asian girl. And one day my dad said to be that he didn’t know if Mom would want an Asian grandchild. > > … > > Like my uncle, who disowned his daughter when she married a black man. Refused to speak to her or have anything to do with his granddaughter. Not that this is true of your family, but this is not an unfamiliar sexist/racist pattern across the South. In Texas, it was historically ok for white men to marry Mexican women. Maybe some people wouldn’t approve, but it was generally acceptable. But it was NOT ok for white women to marry Mexican men. Definitely some ‘protecting the purity of our women’ stuff playing in some people’s heads. I don’t have a lot of evidence, but I’d be willing to put down some money that there are a non-negligible number of people who would be perfectly fine with white men marrying Asian or black women but simultaneously not ok with white women marrying Asian or black men. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/27 "2019-09-04T01:03:56Z")
Let’s give the venue a little credit. They said they don’t support interracial marriages based on the Bible. But when somebody explained to them that the Bible doesn’t forbid this, they actually listened and changed their belief. Too many people would have just ignored the evidence and stuck with the belief. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/28 "2019-09-04T01:05:04Z")
What the Bible does have to warn about marriage between people of different backgrounds or origins, is when you bother to look at it about marriages _between believers and heathens_. Thus the stories about the pagan wives of Israelite kings bringing their false gods with them. Or the Pauline advice against “unevenly yoked” marriages where one is a believer and the other isn’t. But interethnic couplings are portrayed as OK as long as you do not adopt the pagan ways (Joseph; Ruth; Esther; the dark-skinned beloved in the Song of Songs) ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/29 "2019-09-04T01:11:50Z")
Mormons tho ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/30 "2019-09-04T01:54:19Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Bible prescriptivists tell the [bible](https://www.conservapedia.com/Conservative_Bible_Project) what it says I thought that was Soviet Russia. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/31 "2019-09-04T02:01:01Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Martin Luther went to town > > A riding on a pony > > Saw what was done in his name > > And committed a felony! > > (Hey, I can dream about Luther going upside some people’s heads. [Maybe driving them away with a massive fart.](https://douglasbeaumont.com/2011/10/19/from-farts-to-faith-interesting-surprizing-and-amazing-quotes-from-martin-luther/)) Hey, flipping some tables and driving everybody out of the church with a bullwhip is also an option. It’s right there in the bible! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/32 "2019-09-04T02:47:23Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Hey, flipping some tables and driving everybody out of the church with a bullwhip is also an option. It’s right there in the bible! Indiana Jesus. I bet when the Devil tempted him in the desert in Matthew Chapter 4 and Luke Chapter 4, it was as a serpent. “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” (Hey I’m a Christian but I can joke.) ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/33 "2019-09-04T03:05:47Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Indiana Jesus. > > I bet when the Devil tempted him in the desert in Matthew Chapter 4 and Luke Chapter 4, it was as a serpent. > > “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” > > (Hey I’m a Christian but I can joke.) That was good. You may joke again. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/34 "2019-09-04T03:22:07Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Not that this is true of your family, but this is not an unfamiliar sexist/racist pattern across the South. In Texas, it was historically ok for white men to marry Mexican women. Maybe some people wouldn’t approve, but it was generally acceptable. But it was NOT ok for white women to marry Mexican men. Definitely some ‘protecting the purity of our women’ stuff playing in some people’s heads. > > I don’t have a lot of evidence, but I’d be willing to put down some money that there are a non-negligible number of people who would be perfectly fine with white men marrying Asian or black women but simultaneously not ok with white women marrying Asian or black men. I’ve personally heard regarding a white man marrying a Black women, “Well, that’s better than a Black man marrying a white woman”. And this was in Georgia, less than ten years ago. Somehow (see the story linked in the OP) I don’t think it’s changed all that much. > [@Chingon](#): > > Mormons tho Huh? And just so’s you know, I’m Mormon, white, American, grew up in the South, and my wife is Mormon and Korean, both ethnically (technically, she’s ethinically 25% Japanese and 75% Korean) and by citizenship. We got married in the Laie Temple on Oahu. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/35 "2019-09-04T03:53:25Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Generally, it’s another part of the Bible they use, though. I can’t remember which part right now. I expected it to have been the part where the sons of Noah find him drunk, dancing naked, and the youngest one laughs at him; when his father sobers up he curses the boy “your children will serve your brothers’ children”. The “three races of men” were supposed to come from each of the three sons and slavery of black people was justified claiming that they were the descendants of that third son (additional races were, uh, because; after all we’re talking about the kind of people who see dinosaur bones and claim they’re decoration). But I’m happy to admit that the particular bit of miscegenation idiocy this thread is about is not one I had run into before. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/36 "2019-09-04T04:16:05Z")
A lot of denominations don’t do gay weddings, sadly\*. That’s a very common thing. (The Catholic church, for one.) But mixed race? That’s how you know it’s a really fringe church. \*Hopefully, that will continue to change. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/37 "2019-09-04T04:48:04Z")
[And the vigilantes get it wrong yet again!](https://news.yahoo.com/men-mistook-homeless-man-sex-160307877.html) > [@](#): > > Men Mistook Homeless Man for Sex Offender, Beat Him to Death, Police Say ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/38 "2019-09-04T05:24:03Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > [And the vigilantes get it wrong yet again!](https://news.yahoo.com/men-mistook-homeless-man-sex-160307877.html) Was that The Onion? It was literally just a headline and some confused comments. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/39 "2019-09-04T06:40:41Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Was that The Onion? It was literally just a headline and some confused comments. I think you’re supposed to watch the video. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625/40 "2019-09-04T07:53:15Z")
Drat! I posted that bit about the vigilantes in the wrong thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-dont-do-gay-wedding-or-mixed-race-because-of-our-christian-race/839625.md?page=3)