The Associated Press reported that "The Christian Coalition, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Eagle Forum are among more than two-dozen organizations campaigning for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages in the United States." They intend to supply literature about same-sex marriage to over 70,000 churches and to make this a major issue in the up-coming presidential election.
The rhetoric these groups use shows how extremist, and irrational, they are. Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America, told the AP "This is the very underpinning of civilization. If we remove those foundations, our entire civilization will come crumbling down." I guess she expects to see civilization crumbling in Canada, since same-sex marriages are now legal there. Does any sane person really believe that?
The Federal Marriage Amendment is designed not only to outlaw gay marriages, but also to prohibit the recognition of any civil rights for same-sex or unmarried heterosexual couples, including civil unions or domestic partnerships. It is a broad attack on fair and equal treatment of gay people.
It is also, in a real sense, anti-family and anti-marriage.
The same groups that are pressing the marriage amendment worry about the rising divorce rate and the increasing number of people who are choosing never to get married. But if they were really concerned about the loss of respect for marriage as an institution, they should welcome the fact that same-sex couples want to join the ranks of the married. Increasing the number of people who are allowed to be married would increase the size of the population that has a stake in the institution; and that would be good for marriage as an institution.
The groups that are pressing the marriage amendment also say they are concerned about protecting families. But if that were really true, they should welcome same-sex marriages. Same-sex couples are raising children in increasing numbers. Allowing same-sex marriage would greatly increase the security of those families and of the children that are part of them.
It is obvious that the extremist groups, like the Southern Baptist Convention, that are pressing for the Federal Marriage Amendment are not really concerned about marriage or the security of families in general. They are only concerned with pushing a narrow-minded view of how people should live and with trying to force their view on everyone else. They have very little respect for individual rights.
The Southern Baptist Convention used to be basically a support organization for the large number of loosely connected, but independent, Southern Baptist churches. Now the Southern Baptist Convention has been taken over by people who are using it to further a radically conservative political agenda--one that is not good for the country. Moderate Southern Baptists should oppose it.
Duane's Web Log
Things I find interesting to write about.
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Sunday, August 03, 2003
Vatican Wants the Government to Promote Religion
It is insane that Christianity in the Third Millennium is still obsessed with sex as if it were the worst problem of mankind and the greatest of evils--so great that the Church feels the need to try to control it in considerable detail.
The Vatican has lately published a document on same-sex marriage: "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons." The motive of this paper is to persuade governments to not legalize same-sex marriage. It is ironic that the long time defenders of pedophiles think they have the moral authority to tell the rest of us what is right and wrong about sexuality and family life.
The introduction states that "the arguments that follow are addressed not only to those who believe in Christ, but to all persons committed to promoting and defending the common good of society." Thus, this document pretends to give reasons and arguments that appeal to both Christians and non-Christians alike, but it does no such thing. In every case its reasons beg the question at issue and its arguments are blatantly circular.
Section I discusses the nature of marriage, according to the Church. It states "No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman." If this were true, why don't we all believe it? It is not the certainty to pure reason that the Church pretends it to be. Moreover, it has not always been a certainty in the Church. Otherwise, how could the historian John Boswell have discovered Catholic and Orthodox liturgies for same-sex unions dating from medieval Europe? [see Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, New York: Villard Books, 1994]
In the United States, it is a violation of the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state for the government to adopt religious arguments or use religious motives as the basis for law. It is also illegitimate for the government to disguise religious motives under the rubric of morality. There is no secular reason to withhold civil marriage from same-sex couples who wish to marry.
The Church would have the government of the United States promote and defend the Church's religious conception of marriage "as an institution essential to the common good." What the Church views as "the common good" includes people's "perception and evaluation of forms of behavior"--in other words, people's beliefs, in the present instant, about homosexuality. The Church is afraid that legalizing same-sex marriage will "obscure certain basic moral values." What it means by "basic moral values," of course, is the Catholic religious teachings about homosexuality. What the Church wants the government of the United States, and other governments, to do is to help promote Catholic teachings, something that is illegitimate for a secular government to do.
The Vatican has lately published a document on same-sex marriage: "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions between Homosexual Persons." The motive of this paper is to persuade governments to not legalize same-sex marriage. It is ironic that the long time defenders of pedophiles think they have the moral authority to tell the rest of us what is right and wrong about sexuality and family life.
The introduction states that "the arguments that follow are addressed not only to those who believe in Christ, but to all persons committed to promoting and defending the common good of society." Thus, this document pretends to give reasons and arguments that appeal to both Christians and non-Christians alike, but it does no such thing. In every case its reasons beg the question at issue and its arguments are blatantly circular.
Section I discusses the nature of marriage, according to the Church. It states "No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman." If this were true, why don't we all believe it? It is not the certainty to pure reason that the Church pretends it to be. Moreover, it has not always been a certainty in the Church. Otherwise, how could the historian John Boswell have discovered Catholic and Orthodox liturgies for same-sex unions dating from medieval Europe? [see Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, New York: Villard Books, 1994]
In the United States, it is a violation of the Constitutional principle of separation of church and state for the government to adopt religious arguments or use religious motives as the basis for law. It is also illegitimate for the government to disguise religious motives under the rubric of morality. There is no secular reason to withhold civil marriage from same-sex couples who wish to marry.
The Church would have the government of the United States promote and defend the Church's religious conception of marriage "as an institution essential to the common good." What the Church views as "the common good" includes people's "perception and evaluation of forms of behavior"--in other words, people's beliefs, in the present instant, about homosexuality. The Church is afraid that legalizing same-sex marriage will "obscure certain basic moral values." What it means by "basic moral values," of course, is the Catholic religious teachings about homosexuality. What the Church wants the government of the United States, and other governments, to do is to help promote Catholic teachings, something that is illegitimate for a secular government to do.
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