tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20166943.post8699994001198483332..comments2024-03-28T14:43:35.296-05:00Comments on Ministry and Music - Seeking the Old Paths: Can the Hitching Post deny homosexual marriages?R. L. Vaughnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10992710377193518029noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20166943.post-12770251722437577682014-10-24T18:52:00.620-05:002014-10-24T18:52:00.620-05:00Following up on this a bit further:
Today I notic...Following up on this a bit further:<br /><br />Today I noticed the article "Truth trampled in Hitching Post stampede" by Shawn Vestal. In it Vestal pointed to several things that subvert the claims of the Knapps about their "religious ministry" at the Hitching Post. He writes, "The Hitching Post’s religiosity seems to have intensified just lately." After that he points to recent changes in the chapel’s website, such as from “ordained ministers will marry you using a traditional or civil ceremony” and “as well as civil weddings” to “using a traditional, religious ceremony” and “traditional Christian wedding ceremony.”<br /><br />Vestal also questions their commitment to "traditional marriage," noting that there is no appointment necessary, with low fees and a quick turnaround. He claims that "in 2001, a man arrived for his wedding in full drag, panty hose and all, to the delight and amusement of all."<br /><br />To the first item I again point out that there was no need for the Knapps and the Hitching Post to be so careful in their wording, since until October homosexual weddings were not legal in Idaho. After they became so, it would then be important to them to change their statements and wording to fit the new situation.<br /><br />To the second item I would certainly disagree with marrying a man in "full drag", even if he is marrying a woman. Such things certainly do not fit my view of "traditional marriage." But the Knapps are not required to hold my view of traditional marriage -- and just because they might think it is OK to perform a heterosexual marriage when the groom is in "full drag" doesn't mean they think it is OK to perform a homosexual marriage. All of us live with all sorts of inconsistencies.<br /><br />In <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/10/22/couer-dalene-city-attorney-confirms-conservative-christian-ministers-wedding-chapel-business-must-provide-same-sex-marriage-ceremonies/" rel="nofollow">Couer d’Alene City Attorney confirms: conservative Christian ministers’ wedding chapel business must provide same-sex marriage ceremonies</a>, Eugene Volokh* writes, "The government can’t require the employees or owners of a for-profit newspaper or motivational speaker service to say the Pledge of Allegiance as a condition of staying in business, just as it can’t require noncommercially minded schoolchildren to say the Pledge. The government can’t require such for-profit businesses to display “Live Free or Die” on their company cars. It can’t require for-profit newspapers to publish things they don’t want to publish. Likewise, it can’t require for-profit officiants of verbal ceremonies (especially religious ceremonies, but secular ones as well) to say things they choose not to say."<br /><br />* <a href="http://www.adfmedia.org/files/KnappCityAttorneyLetter.pdf" rel="nofollow">Letter from Couer d’Alene City Attorney Michael Gridley to ADF</a> -- "...if they are providing services primarily or substantially for profit and they discriminate in providing those services based on sexual orientation then they would likely be in violation of the ordinance"<br /><br />* Eugene Volokh is the Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law.R. L. Vaughnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10992710377193518029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20166943.post-25500176283694363822014-10-22T22:16:47.964-05:002014-10-22T22:16:47.964-05:00I noticed some of the "anti" commentator...I noticed some of the "anti" commentators mentioning things that the Hitching Post have recently changed -- as some kind of proof that they don't really believe what they say they believe. But up until homosexual marriage became legal in Idaho, those things really of no consequence.R. L. Vaughnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10992710377193518029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20166943.post-26080698144597852802014-10-22T20:04:21.091-05:002014-10-22T20:04:21.091-05:00Today I was able to get on the Hitching Post web s...Today I was able to get on the Hitching Post web site. It confirms what I thought -- that the Hitching Post is a for-profit business and they are ministers who perform traditional religious ceremonies. The ceremonies are performed only "by our Licensed or Ordained Hitching Post ministers." I don't know if there are other ministers than the owners. The owners are members of <a href="http://www.lifecenter.net/" rel="nofollow">Life Center Church</a> in Spokane, Washington, a part of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. The <i>Foursquare Church</i> believes that "sexual union was established exclusively within the context of male-female relationship and formalized in the ordinance of marriage" and that homosexuality is a sin "that, if persisted in, brings grave consequences in this life and excludes one from the Kingdom of God." Clearly the ministers, in refusing to perform homosexual marriages, are following their consciences and the belief system of their church. But should they be able to run a "for-profit" wedding business?<br /><br />The wedding ceremonies at the Hitching Post come in two available packages, both of which include:<br /> <br />* Minister<br />* Decorated Chapel<br />* Music during the ceremony<br />* Limited time usage of changing room<br />* Filing of your marriage license with the County Recorder<br /><br />The second, slightly more expensive package, also includes photos on a secure digital memory card.<br /><br />The question in my mind, and that I have for those who believe the Hitching Post should be forced to conduct same-sex marriages, is whether only people who hold to a progressive non-traditional view of marriage should be allowed to own and run wedding chapels? Must all others be banished? Why can't we have both? Are same-sex marriage advocates so intolerant to say we can't? I say if someone wants the type of marriage the Hitching Post provides, they can get married there and if they want a non-traditional marriage they can go where those are provided. It's not like the Hitching Post is keeping them from getting married. They just want to follow their own consciences in the marriages they perform. <br /><br />Hey, I think the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel is a doctrinally heretical religious society, but I wouldn't campaign to stop them from performing marriages.R. L. Vaughnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10992710377193518029noreply@blogger.com