I am thankful for The Northwest Arkansas Times. I appreciate its arrival on my doorstep each morning, and am blessed to have a voice and space in this newspaper through the Faith Matters column.
This newspaper has given a voice to a wide variety of religious traditions. It is a sign of respect for all people and the faith that they hold dear.
However, I’m concerned that this same respect is not being shown in other areas of the paper’s content. Cody Renegar and Thomas Staed are a loving and committed gay couple who are planning to marry in June.
They have learned that their engagement announcement would not be printed in The Northwest Arkansas Times.
The paper justified this by reiterating that Arkansas is not yet a state that legally recognizes the marriages of loving and committed gay and lesbian couples.
As a faith leader within the Fayetteville community, this decision troubles me greatly. I am part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a church that extends freedom to its congregations to find ways to hold publicly accountable same-gender relationships that intend to be lifelong and monogamous and to surround these couples and their families with prayer and support in a variety of ways.
Some of our ecumenical partners also extend such freedom to their congregations. I would expect that The Northwest Arkansas Times would also recognize the validity of couples who have committed themselves to one another before God and their friends and family.
It is true that Arkansas lacks the legal protections for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples.
This is something that also troubles me deeply.
However, there is nothing in the law that prevents the wedding announcement of a committed couple from being listed in the newspaper. Indeed, if they can be recognized by any of the many inclusive faith communities in the area, we pray they would be recognized by our local media.
CLINT SCHNEKLOTH
Fayetteville
THE WRITER IS PASTOR OF GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN CHURCH IN FAYETTEVILLE.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 02/11/2012