The U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Obergefell (2015) ruled that state governments must recognize same-sex marriage. As more states have granted legal recognition to SSM, many Christian leaders, including Christian academics, have expressed their opposition to, and even their willingness to engage in civil disobedience of, the Court’s ruling. These public statements are often accompanied by strong words decrying not only the substance of the ruling but the perceived illegitimacy of the Court in handing it down.
In light of the conference theme of hospitality and public engagement, our paper seeks to answer this question: if hospitality is, as the conference speakers claim, central to the Church’s witness in and engagement with the rest of the world, is it possible for Christians to manifest such divinely-ordained hospitality within the legal system; and if so, how? Despite claims that the “concerns about [Christian] hospitality have implications for public policy, human rights, institutional practices, and social services” (Pohl 2002, 36), there is a dearth of research addressing how Christians might relate hospitably—if that is even possible—to our non-Christian neighbors in actual or potential legal disputes, let alone in contemporary disputes over SSM and other controversial social issues.
Drawing on original interviews and observations, as well as a review of amicus curiae briefs filed by Christian organizations in Obergefell and other recent legal cases, we examine the views held by Christian pastors, church members, and leaders of Christian ministries and organizations toward litigation and the legal system. We glean this data for comments that reveal Christians’ attitudes toward extending, as well as withholding, hospitality within the legal arena, so to speak. Evaluating these comments…
We conclude and argue that Christian hospitality both can and should be expressed, not only in one’s personal practices and home, but also institutionally and publicly, through the legal system itself and in the way that Christians may use the law. In the end, we hope to answer the question: in light of Christian theologies and historical practices of hospitality, what might extending Christian hospitality look like if it were manifested within and through the formal legal system?
Considering recent high-profile U.S. Supreme Court cases that implicate religious freedom and other issues of concern to professing Christians, more research is needed in this particular area—of public engagement by Christians, specifically, in the legal arena.
The full paper is attached to this post.
