Otis Moss III Quotes
The institution of marriage is not under attack as a result of the President’s words. Marriage was under attack years ago by men who viewed women as property and children as trophies of sexual prowess. Marriage is under attack by low wages, high incarceration, unfair tax policy, unemployment, and lack of education. Marriage is under attack by clergy who proclaim monogamy yet think nothing of stepping outside the bonds of marriage to have multiple affairs with “preaching groupies.” Same-gender couples did not cause the high divorce rate, but our adolescent views of relationships and our inability as a community to come to grips with the ethic of love and commitment did. We still confuse sex with love and romance with commitment.
The letter was prompted by President Barack Obama changing his position and favoring gay marriage. Many fundamentalist Black clergy, like many white clerics, viewed gay marriage as an attack on the institution of marriage itself.
Otis Moss III, Baptist Minister, “Open Letter to the Black Clergy”, May 15, 2012
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Of course he did not oppose marriage when the parties were sterile or aged or could not otherwise bear children. The Amendment Failed.
Earlier, he had opposed same sex marriage, but as the population as a whole had a change of mind on this issue, so did he. By 2013, 16 States had modified their laws to allow gay marriage.
Otis Moss III (born 1970) is the pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. He espouses black theology and speaks about reaching inner-city black youth.
