Crow is tough to swallow, Mr. Begnoche

The point of my article entitled “The maine problem with gay marriage” was that the Bible does not command Christians to defend the sanctity of marriage, but it does command them to help the poor, and that based on this standard, the Catholic Church has its priorities entirely backward.
   
The purpose of the Biblical examples that Brandon Begnoche objected to in his letter to the editor was to make a joke more than a point. As I will demonstrate, my point is made by the Church itself.
   
The fact that Begnoche isolated the anecdotes in his response could mean that he recognizes and accepts the greater problem within the Church, or that he is operating under the delusion that delegitimizing the Biblical anecdotes will undermine the legitimacy of the greater argument. I hope (“pray?”) for the former, but experience has taught me to suspect the latter.
       
It seems that the Church really does value Jesus’s nonexistent command to protect the sanctity of marriage over his actual commands to help the poor and follow the Golden Rule. At least the Catholics in Washington, D.C. do, according to the Washington Post article entitled “Catholic Church gives D.C. ultimatum.” I’ll quote directly: “The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn’t change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care” (Protip to Begnoche: that’s evidence).
   
So the main point of this article has been proven for me by Mr. Begnoche’s own church. Too bad those hungry people in D.C. aren’t in his position, because he’s lucky enough to be eating crow.
 
Cory Derringer, Opinion Columnist