I believe that all citizens are entitled to their own religious beliefs only insofar as they do not intrinsically infringe upon the free will actions of other citizens. I suppose that is why I have such an issue with California Proposition 8. You have one set of citizens, predominantly of the Christian faith, who are attempting to legislate their religious moral code upon the entire community of citizens.
We make a gigantic error when we confuse a Constitutionally guaranteed right (a liberty) with the moral category of "rightness" (validity). There is no logical connection between what you have a right to do, and the right thing to do; but there is a psychological temptation to move from one to the other.
"I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample underfoot." ~ Horace Greeley
3 comments:
what *kills* me about this is that we can say this until our lips fall off, but people will still robot "but this is a nation founded on christian principles and we do legislate morality" etc etc etc.
i still don't see this as a moral issue anyway. Not "temporally" at least. As a "moral issue" it at the very least implies illegal activity and I fail to see how homosexual consentual sex is, as it is no longer illegal.
We're just saying 'hey, let's give 'em a reason and a venue with which to be and express commitment and monogamous,' etc.
I mean us straight people are doing so fabulously with morality regarding straight marriage, right? What is it now? 51% divorce rate? Infidelity, anyone?
*slaps forehead*
Yeah we totally have all the answers.
..."but this is a nation founded on christian principles and we do legislate morality"
I hear this all the time too. And I have found, what I believe to be the great equalizer in this argument when I have it. Just ask this:
"Then please point out where the name Christ appears in either our Bill of Rights of Declaration of Independence."
They can't. I have yet to see someone supporting the original argument that can combat this challenge.
Good point, though sometimes it's hard to arrive to definite conclusions
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