I would like to respond to the letter by Gary Williams that appeared in Tuesday’s Tribune. I would like to clarify some errors he made regarding my stance on same-sex “marriages.”

For instance, he states, “Mr. Bute tends to write on social issues with a narrow, literal, biblical interpretation without much regard to historical and content perspectives of biblical times.”

For the record, I am not a religious fundamentalist, and while I love to read and study the Bible, I always read it from the heart of the Church and in the entirety and context of salvation history.  However, since many people will not take God at his word, I tend to debate moral topics such as this from the perspective of natural law and reason. I would remind Mr. Williams that he is giving a lot of moral authority over to one court in California, which out of respect for “fairness” redefined an institution (namely marriage), which has sustained civilization as we know it for more than 5,000 years.

Further, I believe that Mr. William’s tried to paint me as being “narrow-minded” and unsympathetic to the plight of homosexual persons. Nothing could be further from the truth. An important distinction needs to be made in this regard, namely; I can love and accept a person who has homosexual tendencies. I can have a healthy rapport with said person. Does this mean that I should support their lifestyle choices which I believe will cause them and others grave harm? Would that be truly loving someone? I think the opposite would be true.     

Scott Bute

Alden