First of all, I actually believe in God (oh great, here comes the religious drivel!). I don't understand how people who believe the scriptures to be the word of God can have pre-marital sex, and yet it is so commonplace that the virgins are the ones who seem odd nowadays.
Homosexuality has even become cool and chic, while monogamous heterosexuals are seen as boring.
This country was largely founded by Christians seeking religious freedom, and yet Christians are now considered to be intolerant hate-mongers. Is there right and wrong anymore? Does sin exist anymore? In the name of tolerance, it has become politically incorrect to say something is morally wrong. That's what happens when a society no longer finds itself accountable to any authority higher than public opinion or the ruling of some judge. God sure is intolerant. &
Speaking of judges, that's another thing I'm very concerned about. In the year 2000, over 60% of Californians made their wishes known by vote that they did not want same-sex marriage to be legal, and yet now the California Supreme Court has chosen to disregard the will of the people.
Just last week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to grant terrorists the same privileges as U.S. citizens . & Judicial activism continues to grow around the country, allowing & judges to play politics, circumvent the lawmaking process and assume the powers of legislating. & Does that bother anyone else or am I still the freak here? The Constitution is threatened when judges change the definition of social institutions and reinterpret approved laws in order to reflect their own policy preferences.
If the courts say that it is discrimination to deny same-sex couples the privilege of marriage, then wouldn't it also be discrimination to deny the same privilege to anyone else who wants to get married? What if brothers and sisters want to marry each other? How about threesomes? Fathers and daughters? & Uncle Doug and his pet goat? & Why not? & Would those be morally wrong? Says who? & Do we accept everything? Where do we draw the line or is it a hate crime to even draw a line?
Is it the government's role to protect society?Marriage is the basic family institution upon which society is built, so shouldn't it be defended? One church & explains it by saying "Proposals that could harm the institution of marriage must be subjected to the same sort of objective analysis that we give any public policy question. Marriage is not just a private matter of emotion between two people. On the contrary, its success or failure has measurable impact on all of society. Rational analysis yields solid, objective reasons for limiting marriage to one man and one woman--reasons anyone can agree with on purely secular grounds."
Senior policy analyst, Dr. Matthew Spalding, said "Nor is the definition of marriage a matter for state-by-state experimentation. Society is not harmed when high-tax states live side by side with low-tax states: The market adjusts to the inconsistency. This is not the case where substantive differences exist with regard to the definition of marriage. A highly integrated society such as ours--in which issues such as property ownership, tax and economic liability, & inheritance and child custody cross state lines--requires a uniform definition of marriage." & &
Several of my lesbian friends are raising children and I don't doubt that they are loving parents doing their best. My heart goes out to them because their lives are not easy. For thousands of years, on the basis of experience, tradition, and legal precedent, every society and every major religious faith have upheld marriage as a unique relationship by which a man and a woman are joined together for the primary purpose of forming and maintaining a family.
Based on existing studies comparing two-parent and single-parent households, social science overwhelmingly demonstrates that children do far better when they are raised by two married parents in a stable family relationship and that children raised in other household structures are subject to significantly increased risk of harm. & Evidence further suggests that one reason children do better in a married household is not just the stability of having two parents, but the fact that a male and a female parent each bring distinctive strengths, perspectives, and characteristics to the family unit that benefit both children and the parents.
So what's on the other side of the rainbow? Will we find a pot of gold or will it just be an illusion? Will we finally see equality in all things for all people or will society pay a price for being too tolerant?
- Citizen Voices blogger Trina Boice is an author and mother of four who lives in Carlsbad.
