Rev. Danny Fisher

Demonstrators protest the passage of California’s Proposition 8 at the Melvin Municipal Office Building in downtown Greensboro, NC. Photograph by the author.

“The essence of Buddhism is if you can, help others. If not, then at least refrain from hurting others.”

- His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet

As part of Join the Impact, the nationwide protest against California’s Prop. 8, I participated in a protest rally at the Melvin Municipal Office Building in downtown Greensboro this afternoon.

As I have said before at this blog, I consider bans on same-sex marriage like Prop. 8 to be immoral. Homosexual couples are entitled to all of the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples. Period. Simple as that.

Opponents of gay marriage can’t seem to make a constitutional case for a ban, and come off to me as disingenuous when they talk about the “sanctity of marriage.” If you’re so concerned about the “sanctity of marriage,” why aren’t you protesting divorce and things like Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? just as vigorously?

How dare we dehumanize others by denying them their civil rights? How dare we say to our fellow human beings that they don’t deserve equal protection under the law?

I support same-sex marriage as a Buddhist, a chaplain, a GLBT ally, and a citizen of the world. I ask you not to keep quiet about injustice like the passage of Prop. 8, and I challenge my fellow Buddhist clergy from all traditions in the United States to be more vocal allies. Go to rallies, write letters, talk to people, canvas–do anything you can as often as you can.

To sign the pledge to fight Prop. 8, follow this link. And to further show your support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, follow this link.

I’m a great admirer of Karen Armstrong and her work, which I think helps us understand such a tremendous lot about religion in the modern world. (In particular, I think The Battle for God should be added to the short list of books that can help us save the world.) She’s an absolutely indispensable, important voice in the world today.

That said, I’m not quite sure yet what I think about her proposal for a Charter for Compassion. There’s a lot of conversation about it at the Washington Post/Newsweek venture On Faith right now. Obviously, I’m pro-compassion. I’m also stuck, though, on a couple of the same things that Susan Jacoby talks about in her reaction to it:

1. It seems to me that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and similar charters kind of already function that way. (Though it’s definitely an open question whether or not these are actually being followed/enforced.)
   
2. I do believe that the major world religions have all placed significant emphasis on compassion. At the same time, though, I recognize that not all religious persons/communities/lineages understand compassion the same way. (Some might argue that it’s “compassionate” to, say, do violence, deny rights to their fellows, and so on.)

But those are just initial thoughts and reactions of mine. I’m not pro or anti the charter at the moment–just thinking about it. What do you think? Please share your thoughts. I really want to talk about this.