In Judges 12 the men of Gilead use the word ‘Shibboleth’ as way to discern whether someone is from Gilead or Ephraim. The Ephraimites, you see, were not able to say the word correctly. Thus, when asking a man to say, “Shibboleth,’ how he said it revealed his origins.  It appears that supporting same-sex marriage is becoming a shibboleth for all people of good will.

First, I saw this.

Mozilla Chief Executive Brendan Eich has stepped down, the company said on Thursday, after an online dating service urged a boycott of the company’s web browser because of a donation Eich made to opponents of gay marriage.

 

Then, I saw this.

As the Associated Press reported Thursday, Jacquelline Fuller said in an email Wednesday to AP that while she remains a “huge fan” of the group’s work on behalf of the poor, she resigned Friday “as I disagreed with the decision to exclude gay employees who marry.”

What do these two separate events have in common? The rejection of those who do not share the accepted wisdom on same-sex marriage. In Mr. Eich case it does not matter whether or not he could actually lead Mozilla. His years with company, during which he supported traditional marriage, are not taken into account. No one appears to have asked, “How has this view impacted his work thus far?” Instead it is simply assumed that he is incapable of leading. Why is this assumption made? Because apparently no one of good will could ever follow a leader who does not support same-sex marriage.

Ms. Fuller, who apparently joined WorldVision’s board back when their employee policy forbid same-sex marriages, suddenly has a problem with this policy. After the kerfuffle caused by their embracing of same-sex marriage rapidly followed by their return to traditional morals, suddenly a non-profit she supported before they were pro-same-sex marriage cannot be supported now that they are, once again, pro-traditional marriage. What, exactly, is the difference? WorldVision still does great work among the poor and they still have the same employee policy they had when she joined the board. The difference is that now all people of good will know she is on the board of a non-profit that supports traditional marriage.

In both cases support for same-sex marriage is a shibboleth. If you don’t support it, we don’t want you to lead our company and we won’t serve on the board. Of course we’ve seen this in other areas, already. Business owners in court because they refused to serve same-sex weddings. Business owners hounded out of business because they refused to serve same-sex marriage.

One wonders how long it will be before this shibboleth arises in other areas of life. Will corporations find reasons to fire (or not even hire) the person who posts traditional marriage links on Facebook? Will businesses refuse to supply other businesses whose employee policies or CEOs opinions don’t support same-sex marriage?

One also wonders what the next shibboleth will be. Certainly this is not the end, but merely another step in redefining morality and marginalizing those who hold to any traditional moral concepts.