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Court rules Christian Mingle must allow LGBT couples

LoAmmi

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Oh, I do believe that. Replace Christian with another faith and this mostly gets thrown out of court.

83% of Americans identify as Christian. Now, you can argue about how nominal they are, but they clearly aren't Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc. So, when we're talking about religion in the US, 4 out of 5 people are Christian. It makes sense that most things that happen regarding religion in the courts it's going to be Christianity. 13 percent after that are non-religious. So think about that. 4 percent of people in the US identify as some other religion. There just aren't that many other faiths really represented in the US. Do you have any idea how many places in the US where I would never be able to find a synagogue if i lived there because it'd be like me and one other Jew?
 
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Cearbhall

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Sacramento, Calif., Jul 6, 2016 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A California court ruled last week that ChristianMingle and it’s affiliate faith-based dating websites must allow LGBT singles to search and be matched with people of the same gender.
Weird. I'm not understanding the basis for this decision. They weren't blocking certain classes of people from joining. That would have been discrimination. They were just offering a certain service, and that service did not include same-sex matchmaking. It's a private business.
 
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Tallguy88

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I do agree that it's odd that they must be forced to offer same sex dating. Regardless of a religious objection or not, it is still a strange decision. But based on the extremely broad California statute they quoted, it sounds like they had to rule that way. A higher court could overturn it, but the parties settled.
 
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LoAmmi

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I do agree that it's odd that they must be forced to offer same sex dating. Regardless of a religious objection or not, it is still a strange decision. But based on the extremely broad California statute they quoted, it sounds like they had to rule that way. A higher court could overturn it, but the parties settled.

It does seem like an overreaching statute.
 
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Mountain_Girl406

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I was referring to the possibility of someone suing the Catholic Church to perform gay weddings. I see priests going to jail in the future.
The Catholic Church has refused to perform marriages for divorced people and non Catholics for a very long time, despite those marriages being legal. Yet I can't think of one successful lawsuit forcing the Church to marry people it doesn't view as qualified to recieve the sacrament. Why do you think all that history is about to crumble only for gay people?
 
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benedictaoo

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you have a point

and Tallguy has a point about it being a for profit site that has other sites that do allow gay matches......


but I just dislike the Government going so rough on what "is Christian" and what is not

they are going to use this as a tool against us, as a precedent

uhg, I sound paranoid, sorry
Welcome to the dark side. Literally. Its not paranoia, its just calling it like it is.
 
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Winter

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How long will it be before someone's suing the Catholic church to perform gay marriages? :|

I could be wrong about this. I heard that you can't sue the Catholic Church or the Mormon Church because they do pay some kind of tax (do they? does anyone know for sure?). Its Protestant denominations (particularly the smaller evangelical churches) are going to suffer big time because they are tax exempt and if you are tax exempt you have to marry homosexuals. If you don't, the pastor will be jailed. Its either compromise your beliefs or get jailed. Many constitutional lawyers are very concerned about this happening. Unfortunately these small churches could never afford to pay the taxes and so one by one these Christian churches would shut down. This would be an absolute shame.

Again, I could be wrong about the status regarding Catholic/Mormon churches. But I do believe that if you are a tax exempt church you have to marry homosexuals or pastor goes to jail, or church shuts down.

And please, correct me if I'm mistaken on any of these points.
 
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LivingWordUnity

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I could be wrong about this. I heard that you can't sue the Catholic Church or the Mormon Church because they do pay some kind of tax (do they? does anyone know for sure?). Its Protestant denominations (particularly the smaller evangelical churches) are going to suffer big time because they are tax exempt and if you are tax exempt you have to marry homosexuals. If you don't, the pastor will be jailed. Its either compromise your beliefs or get jailed. Many constitutional lawyers are very concerned about this happening. Unfortunately these small churches could never afford to pay the taxes and so one by one these Christian churches would shut down. This would be an absolute shame. Christians have to face the fact that the country that used to be under God is now under Satan.

Again, I could be wrong about the status regarding Catholic/Mormon churches. But I do believe that if you are a tax exempt church you have to marry homosexuals or pastor goes to jail, or church shuts down.
As we have seen, laws that used to protect the religious liberty of Christians can be changed. And as Rhamiel said, this sets a precedent that the left will use in their crusade against Christians.
 
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LoAmmi

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I could be wrong about this. I heard that you can't sue the Catholic Church or the Mormon Church because they do pay some kind of tax (do they? does anyone know for sure?). Its Protestant denominations (particularly the smaller evangelical churches) are going to suffer big time because they are tax exempt and if you are tax exempt you have to marry homosexuals. If you don't, the pastor will be jailed. Its either compromise your beliefs or get jailed. Many constitutional lawyers are very concerned about this happening. Unfortunately these small churches could never afford to pay the taxes and so one by one these Christian churches would shut down. This would be an absolute shame.

Again, I could be wrong about the status regarding Catholic/Mormon churches. But I do believe that if you are a tax exempt church you have to marry homosexuals or pastor goes to jail, or church shuts down.

And please, correct me if I'm mistaken on any of these points.

In other countries this is the case, but it is not in the United States. Being taxed or tax exempt as a religious organization does not matter. The court has ruled in every case that was ever brought up that the religious institution itself gets to set the rules on who it will marry. Or who is a member for that matter. You can start a church that doesn't allow black members, for example, and US law would not be able to touch it.
 
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Fantine

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I am surprised that a private business could be forced to expand its dating focus. I do understand that same-sex relationships are accepted in some Protestant denominations, even among clergy (in the case of the Episcopal Church).
 
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Chrystal-J

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The Catholic Church has refused to perform marriages for divorced people and non Catholics for a very long time, despite those marriages being legal. Yet I can't think of one successful lawsuit forcing the Church to marry people it doesn't view as qualified to recieve the sacrament. Why do you think all that history is about to crumble only for gay people?

Here's an example:
Churches that refuse to perform gay ‘marriages’ may lose insurance coverage

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 10, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – Churches that refuse to perform homosexual “weddings” may be at risk for devastating financial losses in the wake of Obergefell v. Hodges, because insurance companies refuse to cover them.

While the Supreme Court majority gave a nod to religious liberty in its June 26 ruling decreeing homosexual “marriage” a constitutional "right," countless American churches and pastors may be exposed to more financial liability now that the Supreme Court has imposed homosexual “marriage” across the country, David French wrote in National Review.

Link: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/c...orm-gay-marriages-may-lose-insurance-coverage
 
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Pickle

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I read the article, "Court rules Christian Mingle must allow LGBT couples," and I think the court made no such ruling. Rather, the court approved a settlement between the parties, which allows the dispute to be resolved without the court ruling on the underlying issues.

This is how I heard it reported on a radio talk show, that the court approved a settlement. And that show's host said that the defendants erred by agreeing to settle when that settlement involved agreeing to violate a command of God. He quoted:

Acts 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Since the defendants agreed to "allow LGBT couples" before the court approved the settlement, it makes no sense to say that the "Court rules" that the defendants "must allow LGBT couples."
 
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jeanetteflint

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I didn't read the article or holding. But here's the problem with Christian Mingle. It isn't a Christian site or organization. It's a targeted dating service and their primary goal is to make money. They own many other niche dating sites, such as Jdate (for Jews), LDSmingle (mormons), BBWpersonals (for people who like to date overweight people), black singles, silver singles, and about 20 more.

They serve Mammon, not God. I've been wary of them ever since I first heard their commercials and their tag line "Find God's match for you". What arrogance to claim their for-profit dating service is somehow an expression of the divine will.
Who is Mammon?
 
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CurtisNeeley

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I was referring to the possibility of someone suing the Catholic Church to perform gay weddings. I see priests going to jail in the future.
Someone will try to sue the church, of course, but will be dismissed if allowed to even serve process.

The First Amendment will protect the Catholic Church in this instance. There has never been a ruling in this country that required any religious institution to perform a marriage they didn't approve of. This includes when people sued for interracial marriage or even when two people who belonged to the religion sued. The courts will tell the people they can be married by the state but will not force your church to perform a marriage.
Agreed.

I could be wrong about this. I heard that you can't sue the Catholic Church or the Mormon Church because they do pay some kind of tax (do they? does anyone know for sure?). Its Protestant denominations (particularly the smaller evangelical churches) are going to suffer big time because they are tax exempt and if you are tax exempt you have to marry homosexuals. If you don't, the pastor will be jailed. Its either compromise your beliefs or get jailed. Many constitutional lawyers are very concerned about this happening. Unfortunately these small churches could never afford to pay the taxes and so one by one these Christian churches would shut down. This would be an absolute shame.

Again, I could be wrong about the status regarding Catholic/Mormon churches. But I do believe that if you are a tax exempt church you have to marry homosexuals or pastor goes to jail, or church shuts down.

And please, correct me if I'm mistaken on any of these points.
Sorry Winter; You are wrong. Paying taxes is absolutely irrelevant to this issue just like in the Hobby Lobby ruling. I do not believe ANY lawyer is concerned about this after passing the Bar. The lawyers you mention might be concerned but these lawyers are poorly educated and I suspect do not really exist anywhere but in your imagination.

I am surprised that a private business could be forced to expand its dating focus. I do understand that same-sex relationships are accepted in some Protestant denominations, even among clergy (in the case of the Episcopal Church).
They were not "forced" to do anything. P-E-R-I-O-D. They now allow searching to be done for either sex as desired and this was very well achieved and almost free publicity.
 
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