Here's an oldie but a goodie, written way back in 2004. It's a humorous look at the arguments against gay marriage.
The full article can be found here, but I'm reprinting the entire list.
12 Reasons Why Gay Marriage Is Wrong
1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control are not natural.
2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people cannot get legally married because the world needs more children.
3. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children because straight parents only raise straight children.
4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful, since Britney Spears's 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.
5. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and it hasn't changed at all: women are property, Blacks can't marry Whites, and divorce is illegal.
6. Gay marriage should be decided by the people, not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of minorities.
7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are always imposed on the entire country. That's why we only have one religion in America.
8. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people makes you tall.
9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage license.
10. Children can never succeed without both male and female role models at home. That's why single parents are forbidden to raise children.
11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven't adapted to cars or longer lifespans.
12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a "separate but equal" institution is always constitutional. Separate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as separate marriages will for gays & lesbians.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Our Mutual Joy
Heidi H., a reader and friend from Ohio, pointed this Newsweek article out to me nearly a week ago; I've just now gotten around to posting.
The author presents a very cohesive, well-documented and nicely thought-out argument in favor of gay marriage, pointing out many of the misconceptions and logical fallacies held by conservative Christians who claim that Jesus and the Bible only define marriage as being between a man and a woman. One of my favorite passages, at the beginning of the article, points out what many Biblical marriages were like, and asks the reader if he or she would truly like to base their own marriages on that model. It also makes a point of the fact that divorce is mentioned--and condemned--far more often in the Bible than is homosexuality.
Later, the author deals with the book of Leviticus, which many Christians turn to first when condemning homosexuality in general:
The Bible does condemn gay male sex in a handful of passages. Twice Leviticus refers to sex between men as "an abomination" (King James version), but these are throwaway lines in a peculiar text given over to codes for living in the ancient Jewish world, a text that devotes verse after verse to treatments for leprosy, cleanliness rituals for menstruating women and the correct way to sacrifice a goat—or a lamb or a turtle dove. Most of us no longer heed Leviticus on haircuts or blood sacrifices; our modern understanding of the world has surpassed its prescriptions. Why would we regard its condemnation of homosexuality with more seriousness than we regard its advice, which is far lengthier, on the best price to pay for a slave?
The full article can be found here.
*****
On a personal note, I apologize to my readers (all three or four of you that I have evidence of so far, haha) for my recent neglect of this blog. Unfortunately, when an endeavor is the effort of a single person, real life sometimes supercedes cyberland. Rest assured that I have not been silent in my real world, even if I have been here. Hopefully things will get back to a calmer place in my life, and I'll be able to post more frequently. --DP
The author presents a very cohesive, well-documented and nicely thought-out argument in favor of gay marriage, pointing out many of the misconceptions and logical fallacies held by conservative Christians who claim that Jesus and the Bible only define marriage as being between a man and a woman. One of my favorite passages, at the beginning of the article, points out what many Biblical marriages were like, and asks the reader if he or she would truly like to base their own marriages on that model. It also makes a point of the fact that divorce is mentioned--and condemned--far more often in the Bible than is homosexuality.
Later, the author deals with the book of Leviticus, which many Christians turn to first when condemning homosexuality in general:
The Bible does condemn gay male sex in a handful of passages. Twice Leviticus refers to sex between men as "an abomination" (King James version), but these are throwaway lines in a peculiar text given over to codes for living in the ancient Jewish world, a text that devotes verse after verse to treatments for leprosy, cleanliness rituals for menstruating women and the correct way to sacrifice a goat—or a lamb or a turtle dove. Most of us no longer heed Leviticus on haircuts or blood sacrifices; our modern understanding of the world has surpassed its prescriptions. Why would we regard its condemnation of homosexuality with more seriousness than we regard its advice, which is far lengthier, on the best price to pay for a slave?
The full article can be found here.
*****
On a personal note, I apologize to my readers (all three or four of you that I have evidence of so far, haha) for my recent neglect of this blog. Unfortunately, when an endeavor is the effort of a single person, real life sometimes supercedes cyberland. Rest assured that I have not been silent in my real world, even if I have been here. Hopefully things will get back to a calmer place in my life, and I'll be able to post more frequently. --DP
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
