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Commentary

By failing to define who they are, Christians let the courts do it for them

By: Mark Azzara

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By Mark Azzara

Dear Friend,

Spark Networks, which owns Christian Mingle, the online dating website, will pay a fine and rejigger the site within two years to accommodate gays after a California state judge recently ruled CM violates state civil rights law by restricting matches to straights. This happened because Spark’s goal is profit, not faith. Spark has merely used Christianity as a tool to attract customers. Because Christians cannot agree among themselves what it means to be Christian they have given judges the power to define that word for them. And this situation will continue until and unless Christians abandon their pathetic doctrinal disputes and agree on who they are. Take a guess how long it will be before that happens. But Christians also must address a broader issue: When forced to choose between profit and faith, which will they choose? Which will you choose?

All God’s blessings – Mark

Mark Azzara
Mark Azzara
Mark Azzara spent 45 years in print journalism, most of them with the Waterbury Republican in Connecticut, where he was a features writer with a special focus on religion at the time of his retirement. He also worked for newspapers in New Haven and Danbury, Conn. At the latter paper, while sports editor, he won a national first-place writing award on college baseball. Azzara also has served as the only admissions recruiter for a small Catholic college in Connecticut and wrote a self-published book on spirituality, "And So Are You." He is active in his church and facilitates two Christian study groups for men. Azzara grew up in southern California, graduating from Cal State Los Angeles. He holds a master's degree from the University of Connecticut.
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Jan Shannon
Jan Shannon
9 years ago

Mark, you wrote, “Because Christians cannot agree among themselves what it means to be Christian they have given judges the power to define that word for them. And this situation will continue until and unless Christians abandon their pathetic doctrinal disputes and agree on who they are. ”
You’re kidding, right? Christians can’t even agree on the Person of Jesus Christ, let alone what it means to “be” a Christian! Doctrinal disputes are not ‘pathetic,’ they are the expected and necessary result of simultaneously being human and trying to understand the mind of God.
Let’s try this: you tell us who you think Christians “are” and we’ll let you know if we agree on that.

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Neal Schindler
Neal Schindler
9 years ago
Reply to  Jan Shannon

If there were only one way to be a Christian, Donald Trump wouldn’t be able to claim he is one and get anyone to believe him. Believe me. I guarantee. You tell me.

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