Forcing One's Morality on Others - Part IV

On May 28, 2008 the following letter to the editor by Paul Holmes appeared in the Columbian (Vancouver, WA) newspaper attacking Christianity's view of homosexual behavior. My comments are in italics:

This is the fourth in a four part series.

Paul Holmes writes:

And fourth, you are not being harmed by either gays or lesbians. Let others who do not believe as you do live their own lives with equal protection under the law.

If you must crusade, do so against divorce. In the Bible, Jesus actually is quoted regarding marriage, "so they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." You have tens of millions of your fellow Christians whom you can re-convert."

Christians have and do "crusade" against divorce. And they are roundly criticized for doing so.

Further, Holmes only takes part of the passage from Matthew 19. Why did Jesus speak against divorce? Placing the passage in context gives us the answer.

Jesus stated, "Haven't you read that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?

Then we come to the part Holmes quoted: "so they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."

Jesus stated divorce is bad because the Creator made a man and a woman to come together as one in union. Divorce rips the union apart.

Thus, Christ clearly states the purpose of marriage is to bring together male and female. I have no doubts that Holmes lauds Christians (i.e. those who claim to follow the teachings of Christ) who support same-sex marriage even though it goes against the very reason Christ said marriage was created.

Yet, it is clear that Christians - again, those who claim they are followers of Jesus' teachings - who support same-sex marriage are rejecting Christ's clear teaching on marriage.

In doing so, they are refusing to conform themselves to the image of Christ in order to believe whatever their own hearts fancy.

Lastly, is the claim that we are not being harmed by gays and lesbians. Individually, no. But to the extent that anyone supports same-sex marriage does harm us because it harms society:

• Basing public policy on the lie that homosexuals do not have the right to marry when they have the exact same right to marry as all citizens - does harm society. (see The "Gay's Can't Marry" Myth)


• Redefining the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment from applying to citizens to applying to relationships (see Equal Protection Under the Law) then refusing to apply that new definition to ALL relationships (e.g. polygamy, polyamory) - does harm society.


• Claiming there is no difference between the two genders and teaching children that - does harm society.


• Denying children either a father or a mother - does harm society.
  
• Equating the civil rights movement, which showed that race is an inherent and inconsequential part of the design of human beings, with the claim of sexual orientation (a sexual desire for one's own sex that is at odds with their physical sexual genitalia) - does harm society. (See The Foundation for Human Rights)


• Claiming that the federal and state constitutions (e.g. Massachusetts), which were written by men living in a society that believed that homosexual acts were an abomination of the laws of nature, actually allow homosexual relationships - does harm society.


• Refusing to allow citizens of your state (again reference Massachusetts) to vote on a constitutional amendment making marriage between one man and one woman - does harm society.


• Circumventing state constitutions (e.g. Oregon), which states that marriage is between one man and one woman, by granting all the rights of marriage to homosexual relationships by calling it civil unions or domestic partnerships - does harm society.


• Having judges strike down a law passed by 61% of the voters in the country's most populace state (i.e. California) that explicitly defined the understood definition of marriage (one man - one woman) in that state - does harm society.


• Then, having those same California judges refuse to offer a stay of their decision AFTER an marriage amendment (adding the struck down marriage definition to the constitution) was added to the November ballot thereby allowing marriage licenses to be issued to same-sex couples and creating chaos should the amendment pass - does harm society.
  
• Claiming that defining marriage as one man-one woman is a ban on same-sex marriage while completely ignoring that it would also be a ban on other types of relationships (e.g. polygamy, polyamory) - does harm society. (see California's Top Court Legalizes Polygamy)


• Demonizing and marginalizing those who disagree with same-sex marriage as Holmes did in his letter - does harm society.

Willful violations of constitutions by judges and legislatures. Redefinition of constitutional concepts. Circumventing the will of the people. Hijacking the civil rights movement. Assassinating the character of those who stand in opposition.

This is only a partial list of harm that same-sex marriage advocates have wrought upon our society.