need bible quotes

[smileyeagle1021]

specifically any quotes about separation of church and state or gay marriage... either side of the debate will do... I just need material for a debate research paper for my ethics class.
Thank you for your help

[bara]

Im not sure it does state anything about seperation of church in state in the bible. In fact, I think it was a fairly new implementation in the US when it started (hasnt been adhered to very well for a few years).

Only one I can find about seperation of church and state: Mark 12/17
Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” And they marveled at him.

All kinds of stuff about homosexuality. Cant speak for its accuracy.

[Mytical]

I don't think anything is mentioned about gay marriages either. It was taboo enough in the bible to be gay, let alone legally be married. If I am not mistaken, not much about marriage is mentioned at all.

[Kheldarson]

Here's some stuff about homosexuality in the Bible:

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/gay/long.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibl.htm
http://www.ambs.edu/LJohns/Homosexuality.htm

But honestly? There's very little direct reference about homosexuality. Mostly in Leviticus. The rest of it is more about sexual excess rather than being homosexual.

[Gravekeeper]

Leviticus is the main justification as I recall. Which is silly, seeing as it was instructions to the Hebrews, and Levitican priests were wiped out in 70 AD by the Romans. Effectively ending the whole thing. Leviticus has lots of silly stuff in it ( animal sacrifice, no shell fish, murdering blasphemers, etc ). It also has tons of rules about who and what you can have sex with.

Specifically it says you can't have sex with: Your dad, uncle, mom, step-mom, sister, step-sister, sister in law, daughter in law, grand daughter, your neighbour's wife, a woman and her daughter at the same time, a woman on her period, other men, animals, Egyptians or Canaanites. ;p

To paraphrase wiki though, the exact quotes you're looking for are the following 5:

Leviticus 18:22 - Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is an abomination.
Leviticus 20:13 - If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

However, its important to note that "Abomination" is the King James translation. The actual meaning is taboo or unclean. Further more, the Jewish interpretation ( and it is their book, remember ) is against anal sex only and makes no mention of actual homosexuality itself or of lesbians.

Aside from that, you have Paul and Paul in the New Testament:

Romans 1:26 - Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.

Romans 1:27 - In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

However, the interpretation of these two passages is debated, and Paul was an asshole. Seeing as he support slavery, oppressing women, etc.


Then you have Paul of Tarsus:

Corinthians 6:9 to 6:11 - Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, arsenokoites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers, none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

Key word being arsenokoites. To quote ye old Wiki:

"The word arsenokoitēs (ἀρσενοκοίτης) has challenged scholars for centuries, and has been variously rendered as "abusers of themselves with mankind" (KJV), "sodomites" (YLT), or "men who practice homosexuality." Greek ἄῤῥην / ἄρσην [arrhēn / arsēn means "male", and κοίτην [koitēn] "bed," with a sexual connotation": there is no evident reason for Paul to choose this word to signify homosexuality, as Greek has the word androkoitēs for this meaning."

So basically, there are 5 passages and they're all essentially wishful thinking that God hates queers. ;p They've been picked and chosen to try and support a pre-existing prejudice by wishful interpretation.

[Panacea]

Leviticus is a set of instructions for survival of a tribal culture. Given the parasites that can live on in undercooked pork, or the fact that human infants don't produce their own Vitamin K until they are about 8 days old, many of these rules actually make a certain amount of sense.

Some clearly are based on the ick factor (ie the prohibition against anal sex and sex during your period).

And they really don't apply to our modern society, which needs NEW rules.

Besides, Jeremiah 31:31-34 also said, ""Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

[Kaylyn]

I was always under the impression that the ban against homosexual relations in the Old Testament was simply because they were unproductive, as in they didn't produce children, and they were primarily concerned with increasing their population. I don't necessarily have any evidence or citations to back it up, but it seems to make sense. And I have heard from multiple sources that Paul's rants against homosexuality were mostly directed at pederasts rather than between consenting adults. Though it wouldn't surprise me if it was just because he was an asshole, either.