Posted on 06/01/2015 11:28:22 AM PDT by GIdget2004
There’s been a lot of discussion about same sex marriage over the last few months – particularly from the candidates running for the GOP nomination. Sometimes it seems as if they are in a contest to see who can be the most stalwart defender of “traditional marriage” – who can most effectively stoke the unfounded fears of the far right.
When talking about same sex marriage, these candidates regularly throw around phrases like religious freedom and religious liberty, warn that marriage equality will lead to the criminalization of Christianity or the downfall of the American family, and fret that our nation’s very future is at risk.
Let’s be clear. The fight over marriage equality isn’t about religious freedom or the criminalization of Christianity. States have regularly taken action to enact civil marriage with clear exemptions and protections for churches, synagogues and other religious entities. No matter what happens with same-sex marriage, that will not change.
It is also no longer a fight about our country’s future because that fight is already over. According to a recent CNN/ORC survey, the highest percentage of Americans ever, 63%, support the freedom to marry as a constitutional right for gay couples. This is an increase of 14% since 2010 and shows significant gains across all party lines. Regardless of what the U.S. Supreme Court decides this term, the American Public is already on the side of marriage equality. Should the Court oppose the expansion of the freedom to marry to all fifty states, millions of Americans will be disappointed, but progress will continue to be made. It will just take a bit longer.
What is up for discussion and debate however, is where the Republican Party goes from here
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
People who haven't been paying close attention. I believe that the 72 year old woman who was dragged into court because she refused to bake a cake for a homosexual couple, would dispute whether Christianity is not being criminalized. She has lost her business, her life is in tatters, I imagine her bank account and retirement savings are gone. But hey, we're not "criminalizing" Christianity.
WHY DON’T WE HAVE A NEW POLITICAL PARTY YET?
Because the Chamber of Commerce-types are going to have to actually experience 4 to 8 years of life under President Elizabeth Warren before their minds would get right and such a party would become viable.
That’s true...
If I love my car, why can't I marry it? (And have the gov't subsidize maintenance and repairs.)
We aleady have ‘marriage equality.’ Any man may marry any woman, which is something we don’t see in every country.
That for which Cheney is arguing is a special dispensation from the government embracing the charade by which members of the same sex mimic the marriage formula.
This latter is horse crap and is destroying the nation and its constitutional limits on the powers of government.
“Did you vote for Mitt Romney?”
when will the USSC rule on the constitutional rights of bigamists, then polygamists, and then the right for a brother to marry his sister? surely, Mary C would believe in the equal protection rights for those relationships as well?
I don’t know, but this gay thing is from all of the Cheneys, not just Mary.
They all support gay marriage, and they all have been calling for a homosexual military.
It’s time for the GOP to stop wasting time on liberal issues
they are obsessed with sexual deviancy... we don’t need to be
down at their level discussing it with them all the time
Yes, I did. I know what you’re going to say. But no, he did not support either abortion or homosexual “marriage,” when he ran in 2012. I would not have voted for him otherwise.
Correct.
Marriage equality? Another made-up term. Like “sexual orientation”.
There’s no such thing.
No Thanks
Aside from him being the governor that gave America gay marriage, and who has supported gay Scout leaders since at least 1994 and restated it for 2012, and has wanted full gays in the military since at least 1994 and to end DADT.
Here is his pro-choice position as the 2012 GOP nominee for president, and his statement against the party’s pro-life platform.
August 27, 2012 CBS interview with Scott Pelley:
PELLEY: Well, the platform as written at this convention for the Republicans does not allow for exceptions on abortion with regard to the health of the mother or rape or incest. Is that where you are?
ROMNEY: No. My position has been clear throughout this campaign. I’m in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest, and the health and life of the mother.
it’s always such a good idea to declare war on Christian culture /sarc
yes, to some extent...
for example, if you’re Catholic (as I am), then marriage is a sacrament that can only come from God. no judge has that authority. no city or state can give that judge such authority. so marriage by a judge is a civil (secular) union by definition.
of course throughout our country’s history we’ve recognized all marriages performed inside church or outside of church (and even those performed by other religions) as “equivalent” as a societal nicety and so long as those marriages where MF marriages everything worked just fine because those marriages all served the same goal for society. from a legal standpoint, they have been equivalent.
however now we’re confronted with an all out assault on the concept of marriage and we have to explain why MM and FF relationships can’t actually be marriages and why it’s a matter of conscience for many religious people to oppose “gay marriage”. this unfortunately exposes the dirty little secret that civil “marriages” performed over the years by bureaucrats and judges weren’t really marriages at all, but were civil unions.
this is of course a semantic/philosophical point to make since not everyone believes in God, is a Christian, or is Catholic, but... when the rubber hits the road, every practicing Catholic will have to admit to you that a secular “marriage” outside of a Christian church doesn’t fit with our definition of marriage since marriage cannot exist without God, as it’s his gift to us.
under the law, a civil union and a marriage should be equivalent in terms of what the state recognizes (e.g. tax purposes, next of kin, etc.), but the term marriage implies something more than the state has the authority to provide, which is why getting a married in the Catholic church isn’t as simple as running off to vegas for a quickie wedding at The Elvis Presley 24 Hour Chapel of Love.
it’s really about understanding that the meaning of the term “marriage” has been altered over the years and is no longer being used correctly in this debate about “gay marriage”.
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