A Response to ‘Five Reasons Christians Should Continue to Oppose Gay Marriage’

We’re at a point when even a notable Republican pollster is warning the party that it’s to their own detriment to fight equal rights for gay people. You would think Christian groups would come around to that way of thinking eventually, too, but that may take another generation or two. Most Christian leaders refuse to accept the fact that gay people just aren’t a problem for most people, including younger Christians.

The Illinois Family Institute, a SPLC-certified hate group, offers five reasons Christians should continue to fight against gay marriage (written by Kevin DeYoungof The Gospel Coalition). When you read their list, it’s clear they’re out of ideas. They know they’re fighting a losing battle, and they’re clinging to whatever bigotry might still go unchallenged by their members:

A holy war over gay marriage In North Carolina, two churches face off over an upcoming vote on whether to constitutionally ban same sex marriage

When North Carolina voters head to the polls on May 8, they will be asked to decide on a constitutional amendment – known as “Amendment One” – that prohibits marriages between same-sex couples. Same-sex marriage is already illegal by statute, but N.C. is the only state left in the Southeast without a constitutional ban.

So this is quite a showdown. There’s much talk of liberty, lifestyle and family — and a whole lot of talk about God. As opponents and supporters target churches all the way from Appalachia to the Outer Banks, religious leaders are flooding the airwaves to share their views on a hot button issue that throws core values into stark relief.

Growing up, I attended a church in Raleigh that is deeply involved in the current debate. And I can tell you that the fault lines are deep – and often surprising – to folks in other parts of the country.

Catholics will be called to oppose gay marriage

The Roman Catholic Church is planning to enlist the support of more than a million regular worshippers in opposition to Government plans for same-sex marriage.

Senior bishops are preparing to draw up a letter to be read at Masses across England and Wales when the Government consultation on plans to redefine marriage gets under way later this month, it is understood.

It would be only the second time in recent history that a joint pastoral letter on behalf of all Catholic bishops in England and Wales has been issued on an issue of political importance.

The move is being proposed as the debate over extending marriage to homosexual couples gathers momentum. At the weekend Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the most senior Catholic cleric in Britain, accused the Coalition of trying to “redefine reality” and branded the proposals a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right”.

Although the proposals would not extend to Scotland, he argued that they would nevertheless “shame the UK in the eyes of the world”.

Cardinal O’Brien is one of only two British members of the College of Cardinals, the body which elects popes. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the former Archbishop of Westminster, remains a voting cardinal until he turns 80 in August.

The remarks drew robust responses from politicians including Harriet Harman, the deputy Labour leader, who accused the Cardinal of “scaremongering”. “I don’t want anybody to feel that this is a licence forwhipping up prejudice,” she said. Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, said: “If he supports marriage, the Cardinal should welcome the fact that many lesbian and gay couples want to get married.”

Meanwhile, Alan Duncan, the Conservative international development minister, who is in a civil partnership, said that the plans would not apply to religious marriage.

“I don’t think they need cause any upset for Cardinal O’Brien because they’re not really going to affect him,” Mr Duncan said.

But one of Mr Duncan’s Conservative colleagues, Peter Bone MP, argued that the parents and teachers who objected to promoting same-sex marriage in schools could be ostracised.

“If marriage is redefined, schools will have no choice but to give children equivalent teaching on same-sex marriage, even those children of a very young age, including those at primary school,” he wrote.

“So what will happen to parents who because of religious, or philosophical beliefs take their children out of lessons?

“Parents who object will be treated as bigots and outcasts, possibly excluded from being on the PTA [Parent Teacher Association], or from being a governor.

“Discriminated against and persecuted because they hold views that have been enshrined in our laws and have been the cornerstone of our society for 2,000 years.

“And what of the teachers who object to teaching about same-sex marriage. Will they face disciplinary action? How will it affect their careers?”

Five years ago, a pastoral letter issued by the then Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, helped secure the future of faith schools whose funding and status was in doubt at the time.

The Telegraph

It’s 1am here right now, so I don’t have the mental wassname to appropriately respond to this nonsense. Suffice to say, fuck you British Catholic Leaders. 

~Mooglets

There is no intellectual debate against gay marriage, says Brian Paddick

Former Metropolitan Police officer Brian Paddick has hit back at Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s comments on homosexuality.

The London Mayoral candidate has asserted that there is “no intellectual argument” against same-sex marriages.

Cardinal Keith O’Brien,  leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, accused the Government of arrogance ahead of a consultation on the issue this month. 

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, he claimed that plans for gay marriage were a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right.”

He added: “The Government has suggested that same-sex marriage wouldn’t be compulsory and churches could choose to opt out. This is staggeringly arrogant.

“No Government has the moral authority to dismantle the universally understood meaning of marriage.”

But Paddick – who is gay – has hit back.

“Same-sex marriage should simply be a universally accepted human right for everyone,” he said.  

“If we really believe in equality, there is no sound intellectual argument against gay marriage. There may be religious objections, as there are religious objections to equality for women, but that does not mean we should be ruled by them.”

Meanwhile, the UK gay Humanist charity the Pink Triangle Trust has also slammed O’Brian’s condemnation.

George Broadhead, the PTT’s secretary and veteran gay activist, said: “Given the Roman Catholic Church’s well-known views and policy on gay sexual relationships and rights, including Civil Partnership, not to mention Cardinal O’Brian’s previous homophobic outbursts, his latest are totally predictable. His contention that gay marriage would shame the UK in the eyes of the world is also bizarre. 

“Has the cardinal not heard that gay marriage has already been legalised in no fewer than ten countries: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and The Netherlands? I am not aware that any of these countries have suffered shame or any sort of pariah status as a result. This just shows how out of touch with reality the Roman Catholic Church has become.”

Pink Paper

Gay marriage would be forcing unwanted change on the nation, says Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said that marriage should remain between opposite-sex couples - because anything else would be forcing unwanted change on the UK.

The comments came in a speech at a World Council of Churches gathering in Geneva, yesterday.

There, he told delegates that while anti-discrimination legislation was beneficial and necessary for protecting the vulnerable, it should not be used to cultivate cultural change. 

Specifically, he said that human rights laws “falls short of a legal charter to promote change in institutions.”

Adding: “If it is said that a failure to legalise assisted suicide – or same-sex marriage – perpetuates stigma or marginalisation for some people, the reply must be, I believe, that issues like stigma and marginalisation have to be addressed at the level of culture rather than law.”

He added human rights language could be “confused and artificial”, even becoming “an alien culture, pressing the imperatives of universal equality over all local custom and affinity.”

Critics say the comments – which follow Lord Carey’s assertion that gay marriage is wrong – were devised to slow British Prime Minister David Cameron from forging ahead with his promise to implement gay marriage.

However, Williams did argue that nations which actively persecute homosexuality are wrong and have “no justification”.

“Laws that criminalise certain kinds of sexual behaviour need the most careful scrutiny: legislation in this area is very definitely to do with the protection of the vulnerable from those with power to exploit and harm. Go beyond this, and the territory is a lot more slippery. 

“Many societies would now recognize that legal interference with some sorts of consensual sexual conduct can be both unworkable and open to appalling abuse. This concern for protection from violence and intimidation can be held without prejudging any moral question; religion and culture have their own arguments on these matters.”

PinkPaper

1. There is more than one gender, so this ‘opposite-sex couples’ thing is bullshit

2. It’s not ‘gay marriage’, it’s ‘marriage’

3. Marriage shouldn’t be a fucking religious thing anyway, it should be purely legal and if the people getting married want to add religious shite to it, they can do it on their own time

4. If there is indeed ‘no justification’ for persecuting non-heterosexuals, why the fuck are you sitting there talking about continuing to block their human right to marry whomever they so choose?

5. Allowing people who currently cannot get married, to marry, will affect no-one but the people who want to get married. The Government is not striding into Churches, Mosques and Temples and forcing the religious representatives of such at gun point to marry people. It is simply bringing the human rights of the population to an equal standard across the board. The only damn reason people are fighting this is because they are scared of the shake-up to their world-views. Well, ever so sorry that your world-views are out of line with the rest of the damn world. 

6. Fuck you, sir. Fuck you.

~Mooglets

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(via itsdetachable)