The US Senate recently voted on a proposed Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
This brings up all kinds of questions in my mind. For example: What is the legal purpose of marriage? Should marriage have any legal repercussions whatsoever? Isn’t all of this anti-homosexuality sentiment within the government a breach of the separation of church and state?
As far as I understand it, the main legal purpose of marriage is the legal merging of two taxable entities to create one…or “kind of” one, that is, since a couple filing a joint tax return isn’t EXACTLY like one person filing a joint tax return with the same income as the total of the two married parties…it’s something special.
Since marriage is such a messy battlefield, and the distinction between the religious aspects and the legal aspects of it overlap in ways that make it unclear what it actually IS, I think it would make much more sense to completely split it…leave the religious version to churches, where it belongs, take away any legal bonds and any legal benefits of marriage…it’s a religious issue, not a legal one. If people still think we need a legal version of marriage (though I, for one, can’t see why), then create a legal-only one…a legally binding contract that is witnessed and signed by a judge and can only be broken through legal venues. Of course, this legal-only version of marriage would have to be discrimination free, so would allow the legal joining of ANY two (or more?!) people, giving them the same duties and benefits, be they a man and a woman, two men, two women, or perhaps even any combination of men and women.
Control of sexuality is something that churches do…the legal rights to privacy and protections against discrimination take all regulation of sexuality out of the hands of the state. When our political leaders throw around statements about “protecting morality” and “sacred institutions”, they are conflating their roles as protectors of our rights with those that rightfully belong outside of the legal and political sphere. We look VOLUNTARILY to churches and religious leaders for guidance in our moral decisions…we should not have the morals of others foisted upon us, except perhaps in extreme circumstances when our behavior threatens the rights of others.
In a recent address to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, President Bush lumped his opposition to same-sex marriage into his “culture of life” stance. He said, “We will continue to build a culture of life in America, and America will be better off for it.”
What does homosexuality have to do with a “culture of life”? It’s not like homosexuals are murderous fiends, across-the-board supporters of abortion, or advocates of capital punishment. It might be argued that homosexual partnerships don’t result in babies, but actually, with technology at the point where it is now, there’s no reason why a homosexual couple couldn’t have children.
Basically, this is just another hallmark of the specter of religious persecution that seems to be looming ever larger over American society, and we as a thinking, caring people need to stand up to put a stop to it before we end up in a hopelessly religiously oppressive nation…that is, if we aren’t there already.
1 comment:
Here is my take on this issue. You love someone of the same sex in a way that my beliefs disagree with, that is your choice, I can voice my thoughts on it, disagree with it, but really that's about it. In the end it is God who will judge you not me, that's not my place or my purpose here on earth. I'll tell you what the rules are, you decided if you care about them, I move on and hope you change your mind or come around, be a friend if I can, so that if you need support later I can give it to you, but not support on that issue. I don't hate you for it, I just don't agree with it, its a life choice that as a person, as a Christian, as a friend or as a family member I just can't support. To me it is just as destructive to your soul as being drug addict, or an Alcoholic. I don't not support it because I want to be mean, or closed minded.
Now we throw in government, legislatively if you want to change those laws so that there is a legal union between any two, three, fifty people that's your choice, we live in a democratic nation if people agree with it, the laws will change. In a perfect world, Mans laws and Gods laws would be the same, but we don't live in a perfect world.
The solution, separate God's Laws from Mans laws if that's the sin you want to live in. But until you do, I have to vote against you. Marriage is between man and woman, its defined that way, and to me and my beliefs and that definition mean something important. You taking that away from me, is just as close minded and wrong as me forcing you to live your life a certain way. So when the laws threaten my beliefs in favor of yours I have to vote against you, because it is morally correct.
The kicker is I have asked my numerous homosexual friends and acquaintances, " Would you be fine if marriage was strictly something religious and legally all 2 persons unions were just called civil unions," and the majority of them have answered "no." There is no give and take on this from the perspective of many homosexual oriented folks, they draw a hard line, and I am forced to do the same. They want me to sacrifice my belief for their what? Nothing more then their own selfish desire to posses a term precious to me. They don't just want Legal recognition, they really want complete societal acceptance.
And I cannot accept them due to my beliefs. Love them, friend them, live with them, be kind to them, absolutely for sure, to do otherwise would be equally against my beliefs, but accept them I can't do. Because me doing that would turn their sin into my sin as well.
In essence I agree with Joe, I believe what I believe, and while it might pain me that others are doing something I think sinful, its not my place to judge them. But when we make laws on this, from my perspective its a Christian catch 22. If I vote for your(homosexuals) right to do what you what in a positive way, I'm sinning against my beliefs, and if I vote for your right to do what you want in a negative way, I'm oppressing you
(Also possibly a sin?), not something that I feel is my place to do, or that I even want to do.
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