| Family, a cornerstone of our society Debate in our society over the issue of same-sex marriage is understandable. For citizens of these United States, the question is one that threatens the concept of 'freedom' and threatens to change a core building block of society, the family.
The church, on the other hand, must take its position from the larger context of our God. God created us male and female, and thus formed the historical basis for marriage; additionally, homosexual behavior is revealed in Scripture as explicitly abhorrent to God. Opposition to same-sex marriage need not come from within the church alone, but it must assuredly, unashamedly, be the position of those who claim to love God. The question raised by the Rev. Harry Kiely in the Nov. 3 UMConnection: 'Do we want the government to tell us whom we can marry?' is fear-provoking: It assumes that 'whom we can marry' is without a restriction on gender. What about restrictions on the age of spouses, or the number of spouses, or even the 'breed' of spouses? If such concepts seem repugnant to the reader, perhaps we should ask ourselves why? The question raised in that letter intimates that the government should not take steps to preserve traditional family values. Why not? Socially, this need not be a matter of righteousness at all. It is a matter of survival through the preservation of social values, tradition and the protection of 'family' as we know it — a cornerstone of our society. We should not rejoice in anyone's suffering, but God has a way of turning suffering to joy, of hurt to healing. Perhaps God is trying to be heard. Michael Goins
Annapolis District UMM President Maybe we need a UMConnection 'Lite'? First, congratulations on the UMConnection being named best newspaper in the denomination by the United Methodist Association of Communicators! As editor, of course, you deserve much of the credit for the papers' consistently fine quality.
Your column on Nov. 3 admirably reflects your commitment not only to the Connection, but also to people in the conference who read at or below the fifth-grade level. However, this seems hardly a mandate to dumb down your paper. (I noticed your tactic by the second paragraph and wondered what was going on!) If other newspapers did that, do you really believe that more people would rush out and buy the paper? With your talent and the resources of the Conference, wouldn't some kind of alternative version — a 'UMConnection Lite' — be possible? Perhaps you could offer it on a temporary, experimental basis along with the regular edition. Make it brief and include only articles pertaining to regions where reading levels are lowest, urban or rural. And lastly, I appreciated the fine article about cremation but wish you'd been able to include a photo of the beautiful memorial garden/columbarium at Concord-St. Andrew's. My husband Cliff and I will be interred there someday; a generous 'fringe benefit' for former pastors and spouses. Thanks for encouraging this sensible practice. Dottie Harrison
Frederick, MD | 
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