To the Editor of the Faith and Values of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Most of us who are Protestants seem to have difficulty understanding our birthright as “Gentile” Christians. We are not under any externally imposed law; rather our spirits strive with the Holy Spirit to reflect the heart of Christ in all of our lives; and our guide for discerning this Spirit is the Golden Rule. Until we understand this our contentious disputes about communal Christian unions (which I call monasteries) will continue.

A marriage is simply a special case monastery, somewhat like the brotherhood between Jesus and his disciples, except that a marriage happens to be one man and one woman. But a monastery can just as easily be two men, or five men and seven woman, or whatever; the point being that any two or more adults may enter into a life-long commitment in Christ of total sharing of wealth and talent and consciousness, and for that reason warrant the blessing of the church.

[By the way the church should certainly demand evidence of sincerity before accepting mutual promises as meaningful. For example my wife and I stopped smoking a full year before our marriage in order to show each other and the church that we were able to make and keep commitments.]

Now for the sake of the “Jewish” Christians, those who think that there is some law over and beyond the Golden Rule, as well as those “Gentile” Christians who find the topic distasteful, the sexual conduct, if any, of members within any monastery (including therefore also a marriage) should not be discussed publicly.

It is really not all that hard to understand.

Philip McPherson Rudisill