First and foremost, church and state are supposed to be completely separated when it comes to the rule of law in the United States. So the religious argument that God meant for only man and woman to be together has no bearing here! America is not Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Mormon, Catholic, or any other religion that is out there. And the pantheon of gods can attest that there are hundreds of them. We are a secular capitalistic democracy. That's it.
It seems that Obama felt the need to embrace Christianity more to fit in. During his presidential campaign he never really sided for or against same-sex marriages. I know the cards were stacked against him with his name and ethnicity but any candidate still has to fit a schoolboy criteria in order to be considered a legitimate candidate. I am at least glad being black is finally off the list as a negative characteristic!
If Britney Spears can party it up in Vegas with one of her boys and go get married on a whim and annul her marriage the next day, why can't a loving same sex couple tie the knot? How could our society grant more rights to a heterosexual one night stand wedding in Vegas than a gay couple that has been together for 3, 5, 10 years of true love? The divorce rate in America is currently 50%. I am willing to bet that same sex marriages have a higher success rate than heterosexual marriages.
Maybe I am a man ahead of my time. However, looking at the former restrictions on human rights in our country starting with slavery, women not being able to vote, blacks being counted as two thirds of a human, segregation, no gays in the military (to list a few) all have gone by the wayside. But now here in 2009 same sex marriages are prohibited. I think we will look back in 10, 20, 30 years and be amazed that gays and lesbians did not have the same rights as every one else. How did this ever happen in the land of the free and the home of the brave? Are we really free?
EXACTLY! Very succinctly put!
In Catholic belief, "marriage is a faithful, exclusive and lifelong union between one man and one woman, joined as husband and wife in an intimate partnership of life and love," the 47-bishop committee said.
No faith is supposed to have precedence over any other in the U.S. There is no officially government sanctioned set of religious beliefs. Let's keep it that way.
We are a country that works to give equal rights and equal protection by law. If Segregation were voted on by the population, we'd still have two water fountains and four bathrooms in certain parts of our country. It took the Supreme Court and the National Guard to integrate certain places in the South. And there are still lots of people in the South that are angry about that, I bet.
First, I don't think that my marriage needs to be protected from monogamous homosexuals.
Second, why should I have to be stuck with a nagging spouse which will take half of everything I got (if I'm lucky) if I get a divorce, while homosexsuals can simply split apart if they feel like it. They should suffer just like me.
If my brother and his wonderful partner of 17 years got married tomorrow it wouldn't make my 17 year marriage any better or worse. Any more or less sacred. Watching people marry/divorce/marry divorce (Are you listening Mr. Limbaugh?) does lessen the sanctity of marriage though. And buying an annulment is right up there too.
I don't think every Church should have to perform gay marriages. If a Christian Church or Conservative synagogue wants to opt out, that's their right. If they want to rail against gay marriage, that's fine too. (As you can see, I carry a divided tray with me to Church, cafeteria style.)
A thinking, writing athlete? Yum!
In Catholic belief, "marriage is a faithful, exclusive and lifelong union between one man and one woman, joined as husband and wife in an intimate partnership of life and love," the 47-bishop committee said in a statement released Sept. 10.
Gays have been getting married in Unitarian churches for years. Why does one church get to determine the validity of another church's beliefs?
Brendon, WE NEED YOUR VOICE! And others. Heterosexuals seem to think that if they do not HEAR about any suffering from "the gays" that there is none. SILENCE = DEATH. If you are indeed a man ahead of your time, help us push FASTER into the future.
I want to be "there"....not "here".
Brendon I commend you for speaking up.
"blacks being counted as two thirds of a human,"
Blacks were considered to be 3/5ths of a human.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-fifths_compromise
3/5 = 0.6
Splitting hairs?
If I were put in charge of ending the gay marriage debate once and for all, I would remove marriage as legal institution, with grandfather clauses of course, and make any new unions, gay or straight, Civil Unions. Anyone married before the law takes affect still maintains all of their legal status, but all of the benefits and rights become attached to the secular civil union. Then, anyone wanting a "marriage" in the traditional sense, finds a church or place of worship that is accepting of them and they have their ceremony.
Really the only change here, is that instead of calling it a "marriage license" it becomes a civil union. By changing two simple words, I believe that a large portion of the population that is not anti-gay would be fully willing to support it. From a religious right perspective, the sanctity of marriage is protected since it is now completely out of the government's hands, and from a equal rights perspective it provides everyone with the same opportunity.
Just a thought.
"The United States is in no way founded upon the Christian religion"
-- George Washington & John Adams,
in a diplomatic message to Malta.
"This would be the best of all possible worlds,
if there were no religion in it."
-- John Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson.
"The Bible is not my book,
and Christianity is not my religion.
I could never give assent to the long,
complicated statements of Christian dogma."
-- Abraham Lincoln
"I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Those are quotes of our founding fathers. For religious zealots to imply otherwise is ignorant. As far as gay marriage is concerned, it is a no brainer. It should be legal anywhere. While some people chose the gay life style for one reason or another, science has proven that more often than not "Gay" is in the genetic makeup and a person, male or female, has no influence over this. To deny them the full legal rights afforded heterosexual couples is discrimination, not unlike the prohibitionn of interracial marriage that wa practiced a few decades ago.
Obama was already "embracing" Christianity before he announced his run for president. He's been a born again Christian for a long time. You phrased that line incorrectly. Here's a better way to say it: "Because of the lies and half-truths about his religious affiliation circulating in e-mails and viral videos, Obama emphasized his Christianity a lot more to defeat the smears and misinformation."
He didn't all of the sudden "embrace Christianity" more. He simply "emphasized his Christianity" more. Your line made it seem that he all of the sudden discovered and gravitated toward Christianity to fit in. The people saying he was a muslim extremist were pimping a deep-seated xenophobia that still exist in the country, because the purveyors of that lie knew that most of America (at this moment in time) will not vote for a person of the muslim faith. Period. So, to be clear, Obama merely
"emphasized" more what he was already "embracing".
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/2morrowknight
The word "atheist" comes from the Greek "a-theos", which literally translates to "no god" or "without a god". A reasonable, objective, non-judgemental definition would be "someone who does not believe in a god or gods (Note the small "g").
Unfortunately, many American dictionaries now define the word as "one who denies the existence of God" (capital "G")
The clear implications of this definition are:
1. there is a god
2. that god is the god I believe in, i.e. MY God
3. If you don't believe in MY God, you're an ignorant heathen!