I've just had my ritual 4th of July hot dog, with cole slaw, and am determined to take it easy for the rest of the day, after my second visit to the emergency room in ten days.
I thought it might be a good time to ruminate on just what the holiday means, because it obviously means different things to different people. Take this little rant from Brian Brown, of the hysterically mis-named National Organization for Marriage, via Joe.My.God. I'm going to do a little parsing on this one.
First, the headline with graphic:
Who said we have to? No one on our side of the fight. I can be gay and American at the same time, and there are millions like me, much as it might sour Brian Brown's stomach. Any guesses as to who is trying to cast whom as "The Other" (cue scary music, with storm clouds)?
And that happens to be whatever god you worship. The government merely recognizes those rights, which is what the two cases that have raised Brown's blood pressure lately were about. Oh, and the people do not have unlimited sovereignty and never have -- we have this little thing called "The Constitution of the United States of America," which among other things guarantees those rights, in spite of everything "the people" might do to circumvent them. See in that regard Romer v. Evans.
Let's see, "under siege" by "the culture" -- that would be "the people," if I remember correctly. The members of a society are, after all, the ones who determine the culture's direction.
As for religious liberty being "greatly at risk wherever marriage is redefined" -- what the Supreme Court did, in both Perry and Windsor, is to restore the religious liberty of those whose beliefs were being dismissed by the government, although the question was never couched in those terms. Think of it this way: if a sectarian idea of "morality" and/or "marriage" is imposed on society as a whole, particularly a society as diverse as ours, by definition the beliefs of those who do not hold that sectarian idea are being violated. That's a no-no. See Lawrence v. Texas.
Of course religious liberty and same-sex marriage can co-exist. The ones who are having problems with it are the ones who want to impose their personal religious beliefs on everyone. No one is stopping them from believing what they wish, nor from worshipping as they wish. No clergy is being forced to solemnize a same-sex wedding against the doctrines of their religions. What Brown is attempting to do is conflate same-sex marriage with existing non-discrimination laws governing public accommodations. That's the new mantra from the right, and it applies equally to pharmacists who don't want to dispense birth control to business owners who don't want to pay for insurance coverage for family planning, to bakers and florists who do not want to "participate" in same-sex weddings. (Which frankly I think is laughable -- you're being asked to provide goods, not be part of the wedding night.)
As for the "consequences" -- yeah. People are going to think you're a small-minded bigot. Know what? You are.
I think one reason my blogging has fallen off as marriage has risen to the front of the civil rights debate is simply that the likes of Brown and Perkins and their ilk have gotten terrifically repetitive. The didn't have very good "arguments" (see, I can use sarcasm quotes too) to begin with, and they haven't come up with anything new. It gets pretty boring refuting the same bullshit over and over again.
At any rate, I think Brown gets a Tony Perkins Award for this one. It's pretty much a lie from the beginning to the end.
I thought it might be a good time to ruminate on just what the holiday means, because it obviously means different things to different people. Take this little rant from Brian Brown, of the hysterically mis-named National Organization for Marriage, via Joe.My.God. I'm going to do a little parsing on this one.
First, the headline with graphic:
Who said we have to? No one on our side of the fight. I can be gay and American at the same time, and there are millions like me, much as it might sour Brian Brown's stomach. Any guesses as to who is trying to cast whom as "The Other" (cue scary music, with storm clouds)?
We're a nation where citizen rights come from God, not from government, and where the people are sovereign, not politicians or judges.
And that happens to be whatever god you worship. The government merely recognizes those rights, which is what the two cases that have raised Brown's blood pressure lately were about. Oh, and the people do not have unlimited sovereignty and never have -- we have this little thing called "The Constitution of the United States of America," which among other things guarantees those rights, in spite of everything "the people" might do to circumvent them. See in that regard Romer v. Evans.
But those principles are under siege, by the culture, by our federal government and, increasingly, by the US Supreme Court. We need your help to fight to preserve America's founding principles such as religious liberty which is greatly at risk wherever marriage is redefined.
Let's see, "under siege" by "the culture" -- that would be "the people," if I remember correctly. The members of a society are, after all, the ones who determine the culture's direction.
As for religious liberty being "greatly at risk wherever marriage is redefined" -- what the Supreme Court did, in both Perry and Windsor, is to restore the religious liberty of those whose beliefs were being dismissed by the government, although the question was never couched in those terms. Think of it this way: if a sectarian idea of "morality" and/or "marriage" is imposed on society as a whole, particularly a society as diverse as ours, by definition the beliefs of those who do not hold that sectarian idea are being violated. That's a no-no. See Lawrence v. Texas.
Our opponents blithely claim that religious liberty and same-sex 'marriage' [sic] can peacefully coexist, but experience shows that is not the case. Anybody who doesn't abandon their faith principles and fully cooperate with the new gay marriage regime is likely to face consequences.
Of course religious liberty and same-sex marriage can co-exist. The ones who are having problems with it are the ones who want to impose their personal religious beliefs on everyone. No one is stopping them from believing what they wish, nor from worshipping as they wish. No clergy is being forced to solemnize a same-sex wedding against the doctrines of their religions. What Brown is attempting to do is conflate same-sex marriage with existing non-discrimination laws governing public accommodations. That's the new mantra from the right, and it applies equally to pharmacists who don't want to dispense birth control to business owners who don't want to pay for insurance coverage for family planning, to bakers and florists who do not want to "participate" in same-sex weddings. (Which frankly I think is laughable -- you're being asked to provide goods, not be part of the wedding night.)
As for the "consequences" -- yeah. People are going to think you're a small-minded bigot. Know what? You are.
I think one reason my blogging has fallen off as marriage has risen to the front of the civil rights debate is simply that the likes of Brown and Perkins and their ilk have gotten terrifically repetitive. The didn't have very good "arguments" (see, I can use sarcasm quotes too) to begin with, and they haven't come up with anything new. It gets pretty boring refuting the same bullshit over and over again.
At any rate, I think Brown gets a Tony Perkins Award for this one. It's pretty much a lie from the beginning to the end.
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