Even more to the point for Christians, Jesus of Nazareth has nothing attributed to him on same sex practices, nor do the Gospels treat the subject.  Homosexuality, a very modern term, did not even enter the lexicon until the 1880s.  As a complex, profound and divinely inspired collection of documents brought together over centuries, the Bible was never meant to speak to a specific time and culture but to all ages and all people.  If anything, the Bible surely should arouse and inspire in all who read it a life of faith and love and not of hate and condemnation.
The institution of marriage grew out of secular and social institutions and not necessarily out of Biblical ones.  As one observer wryly observed, even Adam and Eve would need a marriage license today. That’s why legislatures and courts have so much to say about the institution and why we’re voting on Proposition 1. In general, the more religion becomes involved, the greater the problem and its exaggeration. Remember Henry VIII’s difficulty with the Pope and marriage? Major Protestant figures like John Calvin and Martin Luther recognized marriage as a worldly and not an ecclesiastical matter while Catholics still thought it a solely Christian affair.  Although that divide still exists today, Catholic churches seldom take a public stance on an issue like Proposition 1.  In the end, the toxic mixture of religion, politics, and government produces not only fewer rights for all but also less tolerance for the unorthodox.  Just remember bizarre results that might occur, such as the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas boycotting the funerals of slain war heroes because the military allows homosexuals to serve.
Lastly, do issues like those emerging from Proposition 1 have a place in local politics?  Of course they do. The justification for that does not lie with the actions of Spruce Pine or McDowell County but with historic tendencies within North Carolina.  For example, Jesse Helms famously used state and national issues like taxation and homosexuality while a member of the Raleigh City Council.  Indeed, Helms seemed unusually fixated on homosexuality throughout his career. It always turned out the rural vote for his narrow victories.
Yet state issues involving Biblical and moral questions have infused local politics for generations. When faced with the evolution controversy of the 1920s, local commissions and school boards debated the issue in Biblical, even apocalyptic terms, while the General Assembly passed on it altogether. The same was true for prohibition after its repeal.  Still, all of us should ask why Republicans promote Proposition 1 in a quadrennial election year while Democrats want it avoided altogether, at least on a local level.  Jesse Helms understood only too well. Nonetheless, far more fundamental questions are involved for those of us who live in Polk County than just the passage of a few words.
Milton Ready, Tryon