The Vicar’s Corner

Here is a press release we issued earlier today…

PRESS RELEASE

31 October 2006: The Alliance of Gnostics in Community and Awareness (AGCA) endorses a NO VOTE on Virginia’s anti-gay marriage amendment (ballot question 1)

The Alliance of Gnostics in Community and Awareness (AGCA), a progressive church communion of neo-classical Gnostics around the world, has a policy of not endorsing particular candidates for office in national or local elections.  However, we do provide guidance rooted in the Gnostic spiritual tradition about particular issues facing voters in American and selected international elections.

Next Tuesday, Virginians, including our Vicar who resides in Richmond, will be asked to vote on a “marriage amendment” aimed at permanently disqualifying whole sections of our Commonwealth’s  citizens from some of their most basic civil rights having to do with family, property, and health-care decision-making.  The AGCA has consistently articulated a moral message about the rights and dignity of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

Accordingly, the AGCA is formally endorsing a NO vote on Virginia’s constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

It is all the more vital that we in Virginia fight back against the encroaching fundamentalism of the conservative theocrats, because our state is the birthplace of American democracy and the source of ideas about the fundamental importance of human freedom, individual liberty, and the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness, as long as others are not being harmed.

As Gnostics, we believe in the equal spiritual dignity of each individual person, regardless of their race, ethnicity, personal beliefs, or sexual orientation.  One of our sacred texts, the Gospel of Thomas, reminds and challenges us, “Love your brothers and sisters like your own soul; guard them as you would protect the pupil of your own eye.”

We look forward to the day when all marriages and all families will be fully and equally respected in our society, even as they are already respected in the eyes of God.  We hope that all the anti-gay laws that have been passed in recent years will eventually be struck down by the federal courts under the Fourteenth Amendment and the full-faith-and-credit clause.  But we know that it will take a long time for this to happen.  It took a long time to get from the disgrace of Plessy v. Ferguson to the victory of Brown v. Board of Education, and we believe that the issues at stake are fundamentally the same — civil rights are civil rights, and equality means protecting the civil rights of all and protecting them from discrimination on any basis.  In the meantime, the AGCA continues to offer unity/commitment ceremonies to all couples, gay or straight, who are drawn to our spiritual ideals, even if they are not themselves Gnostics per se.  The text of our unity ceremony is available online at http://www.gnostic-church.org/unityceremony.htm

To learn more about our faith and our organization, please visit our main website at http://www.gnostic-church.org/.  If you have any questions or comments, you may contact our Vicar, Brother Matthew, directly at vicarmatthew@gnostic-church.org

Vote for human dignity. Vote for freedom.  Vote for Virginia’s legacy of democracy.  Vote NO on Ballot Question 1.

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AGCA: Gnosticism for a New Millennium
Gnosis is about recognizing the divine within you, and learning compassion for those around you
http://www.gnostic-church.org