I belong to a lot of Facebook groups and fan pages; ones about TV shows, movies, politicians, celebs and several Amarillo media outlet pages. With the recent backlash over North Carolina’s marriage vote followed by President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage, the pages have seen activity such as I've not witnessed before since I became active on Facebook.
For the record - I'm not "for" gay marriage...but I'm not against it, either. It really should be a non-issue, as I take the libertarian stance that govt. has no place in marriage. I'm on record as saying gay marriage won't be the downfall of this great nation, but the continued loss of our freedoms will be. The only "problem" I have with same-sex marriage is one of semantics, namely that marriage has been defined as between a man and a woman. If gays want to "marry", then there should be a different word to describe it, such as "civil union".
That's not the point of this rant, though; reading through a thousand or more posts from both sides of the issue I've been offended by many of those arguing for and also by many against it. The anti folks are the most obnoxious - but not by much. Most use the Bible verses to argue their case and they have a point...but many are not being very compassionate when they state their case. Personally, I consider myself a Christian, albeit not a very good one, but the judgment isn't mine to pass out. I can send no one to Heaven, cannot sentence anyone to Hell. There have been a few against it that have had that compassion, though...voices of reason in an unreasonable crowd.
The pro people are almost as bad, bringing up the argument that the Christians pick and choose what they want to follow from Biblical teaching. They're right, but they are so full of rage it's hard to give sympathy to their views. The hatred between the two groups is frightening. I almost feel as though I'm caught in the crossfire.
What annoys me the most is the President's change of heart over the issue. He's been on record as being against it, but just as soon as N. Carolina passes the ban, he changed his mind. He may have agonized over it, who knows? I'm not against his new-found stance, but I think he has seen a poll or study that showed he was losing the (for example) 18-24 vote and needed to sway them back into the fold. I don't need to see statistics to know that it's the older generation that holds the anti viewpoint and that the younger generations have little or no problem with gay marriage. I think the President is doing what he does best and that's being a consummate politician. (and that's what I hate the most about politicians, especially the ones that are good at being one)
What's also troublesome is that there are many other issues for the President with which he should concern himself; our dwindling civil rights and vanishing privacy, several wars, the economy and many others. We have our service people dying and the drums of war are beating even louder...people are out of work and we're putting ourselves into debt that our children's children's children won't even begin to pay off...and Big Brother is here, Orwell's 1984 a few years late here in 2012. I may seem callous, but same sex marriage should be far down the list of his concerns. Something that affects perhaps 3-4% of the population shouldn't take precedent over the things that affect us all.
Anyway...I shouldn't sit on the fence about this. If it were up to me, I'd let gays legally join together using any word to describe it but "marriage". I'm still against the govt. being involved with whatever one wants to call it, though, but since it is, then allow any two people a license. Let the churches decide if they want to perform a ceremony.
Sure, let them legally join together. Let them have the same tax and other advantages that heterosexual couples have. As some comic once said, they deserve the right to be as miserable as the rest of us.
For the record - I'm not "for" gay marriage...but I'm not against it, either. It really should be a non-issue, as I take the libertarian stance that govt. has no place in marriage. I'm on record as saying gay marriage won't be the downfall of this great nation, but the continued loss of our freedoms will be. The only "problem" I have with same-sex marriage is one of semantics, namely that marriage has been defined as between a man and a woman. If gays want to "marry", then there should be a different word to describe it, such as "civil union".
That's not the point of this rant, though; reading through a thousand or more posts from both sides of the issue I've been offended by many of those arguing for and also by many against it. The anti folks are the most obnoxious - but not by much. Most use the Bible verses to argue their case and they have a point...but many are not being very compassionate when they state their case. Personally, I consider myself a Christian, albeit not a very good one, but the judgment isn't mine to pass out. I can send no one to Heaven, cannot sentence anyone to Hell. There have been a few against it that have had that compassion, though...voices of reason in an unreasonable crowd.
The pro people are almost as bad, bringing up the argument that the Christians pick and choose what they want to follow from Biblical teaching. They're right, but they are so full of rage it's hard to give sympathy to their views. The hatred between the two groups is frightening. I almost feel as though I'm caught in the crossfire.
What annoys me the most is the President's change of heart over the issue. He's been on record as being against it, but just as soon as N. Carolina passes the ban, he changed his mind. He may have agonized over it, who knows? I'm not against his new-found stance, but I think he has seen a poll or study that showed he was losing the (for example) 18-24 vote and needed to sway them back into the fold. I don't need to see statistics to know that it's the older generation that holds the anti viewpoint and that the younger generations have little or no problem with gay marriage. I think the President is doing what he does best and that's being a consummate politician. (and that's what I hate the most about politicians, especially the ones that are good at being one)
What's also troublesome is that there are many other issues for the President with which he should concern himself; our dwindling civil rights and vanishing privacy, several wars, the economy and many others. We have our service people dying and the drums of war are beating even louder...people are out of work and we're putting ourselves into debt that our children's children's children won't even begin to pay off...and Big Brother is here, Orwell's 1984 a few years late here in 2012. I may seem callous, but same sex marriage should be far down the list of his concerns. Something that affects perhaps 3-4% of the population shouldn't take precedent over the things that affect us all.
Anyway...I shouldn't sit on the fence about this. If it were up to me, I'd let gays legally join together using any word to describe it but "marriage". I'm still against the govt. being involved with whatever one wants to call it, though, but since it is, then allow any two people a license. Let the churches decide if they want to perform a ceremony.
Sure, let them legally join together. Let them have the same tax and other advantages that heterosexual couples have. As some comic once said, they deserve the right to be as miserable as the rest of us.
1 comment:
"Let the churches decide if they want to perform a ceremony." is totally where I stand. I have stayed away from it on FB because I have good friends in both camps. Good post Mike.
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