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Subject: 
Re: Gay Marriage
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date: 
Sun, 20 Jun 2004 19:41:40 GMT
Viewed: 
2963 times
  
In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal wrote:
   In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks wrote:
   In lugnet.off-topic.debate, John Neal wrote:

  
  
   Good point! As long as no one is being harmed, they should go for it.

Then I guess we disagree.

I knew that. What I don’t know is why. Why are you opposed to those in particular?

Practical and other utilitarian arguments aside, let’s just say they go against my religious belief system.

Fair enough. When the Government and your church leaders tell you that you must accept the marriage of gays within your church, you can protest all you like, and I’ll be right there with you in expressing that feeling. Unfortunately, that’s not what’s happening in this case; rather, it’s a case of a religious majority attempting to lay sole claim to what is in its functional sense a *legal* relationship.

  
   Or maybe, like you, they buy into the sacred institution of marriage, but just think it should apply to them too.

Unfortunately, that is sacriledge.

Here’s the crux of the problem (no pun intended). What gives you, or any single religious denomination for that matter, the right to use your standards to define what members of other religious (or irreligious!) communities do? The fight against abortion is at least understandible from the viewpoint of the secular prohibition of murder, but who are gays hurting by wanting to marry? Who are you, as a Christian, to tell the Buddhists (say) who they can unite in marriage, and to tell the state how to handle secular legal matters pertaining to said union?

Are you seriously concerned that they will damage the sanctity of marriage? Because, of course, heterosexuals would never, ever, ever cheapen holy matrimony. It’s not like we have Elvis impersonators and drive-thru wedding chapels or anything, right? Right?

  
   I dunno, I don’t currently have any close gay friends to ping about it.

Pity. I have heard more than a few gays speak out against this attack on the institution of marriage. They recognize that debasing marriage does no real good for gays, but merely to engender bitterness towards them.

So let’s see, it’s a bad idea because other people have a problem with it, other people who are not in the slightest bit being harmed? Great rationale there, and while it may be true, it is not in itself valid. “Debasing marriage?” Please read above, look at the divorce and infidelity incidence, and please restate the whole question of “debasing marriage.” If you don’t agree, then don’t let them marry in your church. Stop denying them the benefit of civil union just because you hew to some long-discredited Kinsey canard about “the average homosexual” and the belief that someone who would violate one aspect of your sexual mores would obviously violate them all pell-mell.

If gays could marry, are you really worried that your marriage would somehow fall apart? What are you really afraid of here? The implications of such a causal chain are making my eyebrows arch at this very moment.

  
   I don’t think so. They are merely attempting to achieve parity in the easiest way.

It is going to blow up in their faces.

Because of people with kneejerk reactions, feeling threatened about things that do not directly affect them.

  
  
   causing great harm,

This has yet to be shown. At every turn you (and others who share your general stance with whom I’ve talked) refuse to point to this alleged harm.

This issue is going to split the Episcopalian Church in half.

Yeah, the timeless Episcopalian (Anglican) Church is under threat! I mean, wow, I don’t think the question of marriage and its “debasement” has ever caused a religious schism like this...

**cough cough** **Henry VIII** **cough**

  
  
   and is completely unnecessary.

But it’s approachable.

   That is, unless there are ulterior motives involved.

What are you suggesting? I can’t even fabricate a tasty conspiracy in my mind which is what you’re seeming to point toward.

Normalizing homosexuality/bisexuality as a lifestyle choice. Though I realize that many gays (especially men) are hardwired the way they are, I believe that sexuality is a lot less preset than once believed. Your attempt failed at a later stage in life; influences earlier on may have made the difference.

I’ve never met anyone who portrayed homosexuality as a “choice” somehow. I mean, who the heck would choose to be a member of a group hated, reviled, occasionally killed brutally by strangers, and otherwise maltreated by large segments of the population?

Your statements strike me as disingenuous at best.

best

LFB



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: Gay Marriage
 
"Mr L F Braun" <braunli1@pilot.msu.edu> wrote in message news:HzMHDG.1E6q@lugnet.com... (...) mean, wow, (...) caused a (...) Yea, anyone who is at least nominally a Christian who isn't Catholic has no business worrying about splitting churches. If (...) (20 years ago, 21-Jun-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Gay Marriage
 
(...) Practical and other utilitarian arguments aside, let's just say they go against my religious belief system. (...) Life is hard; it's no excuse. I'd say you may be correct and that that realization is irresponsible. (...) Unfortunately, that is (...) (20 years ago, 19-Jun-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)

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