DBeers posted this on another thread. Says it better than I could.
May I suggest you miss a part of the equation.
Government established by the people under God recognizing unalienable rights endowed the people by the Creator and tasked with protecting such rights can NOT remove itself from the moral equation. To do so would be to retreat from upholding the very basis of our government and individual freedom.
The problem here is not that government is involved in morality -the problem is that government assists those who attempt to redefine it. Instead of government defending we government taking a backseat while at the same time assisting those that in essence seek to destroy that which is unalienable by redefining it...
Society chose to value, reward and protect marriage and family LONG before government came along -government simply carries out social mandate when for instance providing tax breaks for children and or legal standing in many regards between husband and wife. Government did not grant these things just as government did not grant life or liberty. How can government redefine these things that the Creator endowed us with? If the rights emanate from the Creator so do as well the definitions.
I would say that religion is the basis for morality. Government should be restricted to either following their lead... or simply recognizing the morality set by religion.
We, the people, should *NOT* be granting the government the power to set morality.
And, in my view, allowing government to authorize who may or may not get married is usurping the duties of religion. Considering that politics are inherently corrupting in the first place, this inevitably leads to the corrupting of a nation’s morals, too.
A reference that you and others may find useful -- F. A. Hayek -think of it as another arrow in the quiver of rational sound arguments that defend what is morally right and historically proven successful against the morally devoid elite leftists who wish to experiment and innovate based upon what they 'feel' should be right and historically has failed repeatedly.
Those who would be God and create a Utopoia on earth always follow the same path -they acquire power, to free the masses they enslave the individuals, to lift up those who fail they knock down those who succeed, they become evil pursuing a means justifies the ends noble ideological cause -pursuing heaven on earth they create hell on earth..
Some may be failiar with the noble prize winner F.A. Hayek who wrote a book I recommend to any free market conservative --he is noted for his writings on the inherent good associated with the free market system and the inherent evil associated with socialism. It is no coincidence that underlying legitimate individual freedom premised not only his arguments on the value, benefits and sound reason for the economic free market but as well arguments regarding the value, benefits and sound reason for the moral free market e.g. society -its historically proven sucessful and historically observed traditions and institutions...
Hayek on Tradition(40 Page PDF Document)
-excerpt:
Traditional morality is rejected today as commonly as it was once taken for granted. And if the specific content of that morality, especially where it touches on matters of sexuality, is widely regarded with contempt, the meta-ethical notion that one ought to respect a moral code precisely because it is traditional gets even worse treatment: It is held to be beneath contempt. Modern educated people take it to be a sign of their modernity and education that they refuse to accept the legitimacy of any institution or code of behavior, however widespread, ancient, and venerable, which has not been rationally justified. Traditional morality stands doubly damned in their eyes: It is not rationally justifiable, and its adherents fail even to attempt to justify it so. The traditional moralist, they take it, is a slave not merely to the “conventional wisdom” but to the conventional wisdom of people long dead. He is in the grip of irrationality, superstition, and ignorance; worst of all, he is out of date.
Read it, add it to your arsenal, use it, and pass it on...
For those interested on what Hayek says about big government socialism: Readers' Digest Condensed Version of the Road to Serfdom (in PDF format(40 Page PDF Document)