Split in the middle
July 5th, 2011Its a hard thing when your forced to choose between two ideas that you don’t have a problem with but seem diametrically opposed.
Made a new acquaintance a few weeks ago who is very strong in his voice for gay marriage. Why he added me to his Facebook list, I’ll never know, but it was interesting while it lasted.
He was very angry over Proposition 8 and was always posting things to “educate” me about how he felt and how inappropriate my church’s actions during that election were to him. I realized I walked a very fine line in my conversations with him. He was very black and white about the whole thing. To him, anyone who is homosexual is born that way and no questions otherwise. I could not agree with that since my own experiences with friends said that for some, homosexuality was a response to abuse. He also believed that it was wrong for churches to take any stand on a political issue. Churches can’t endorse a candidate, but they can take action on issues being voted on.
Its a hard thing to make someone understand something they don’t want to. For him, it was all about being denied a right. For me, it was a split between my religious views on marriage and a struggle for security by the homosexual community. I don’t have a problem with gay marriage actually. Let people marry as they want. I know many gay couples who are some of the most dedicated and wonderful people of my acquaintance. If it gives them the security they don’t think they have I don’t have a problem with that. However, I also believe that we are born male and female and that our gender is not a mistake.
I also don’t see same gender attraction as any different than any other challenge that we humans go through in this mortal journey we go on. The Lord has asked that those who want to follow him abstain from intimate relationships unless they are married as man and woman. That line is also black and white for me. That means the rest of us need to not give in to those desires. Something I struggle with, dealing with the libido issues I have. Same gender attraction does not give someone free reign to ignore the celestial laws I believe in.
Now, if someone doesn’t believe in those laws, sure, they aren’t going to follow them, but to try and get me to renounce them while calling me a bigot if I don’t is not okay. You can’t scream for respect while name calling. It doesn’t work that way. My FB friend actually called me out by name on his wall to join with him in fighting against my church’s actions. Yeah.. couldn’t do that. I gave him a very long response on why I couldn’t do what he wanted and he blasted me, starting posting a bunch of anti Mormon material and then removed me from his friend list.
Most states have laws that protect someone no matter their sexual preference. Most business have insurance that provide for domestic partnerships. Not all, but its changing. And those laws aren’t what get the religious up and voting. Your dealing with a fundamental belief of what being married means and what its consequences are eternally and that isn’t something people can just ignore.
I’ve seen several articles now about people comparing the current issue to women’s suffrage. I can understand why some are making that comparison and I know that its only a matter of time before the states have laws on their books that allow same sex marriage. Which as I’ve said before isn’t a big deal to me.
What is a big deal is hoping that in this struggle, people don’t cross the freedom of religion line. And you know there are extreme groups that will try and force religions to perform those ordinances. Some won’t and some will. Its up to them but if they try to force it. It spells trouble for all of us. I don’t think most Americans really understand how precious and rare our freedoms in this country are. We don’t have a state run religion so that everyone can follow their own conscience. We allow people to scream in their loudest voice about an issue that you may scream in your loudest voice in direct opposition to. We can provide for our own protection and a host of other “rights” that are on the chopping block if we let even one of our constitutional rights be violated.
That is what really worries me. I’ve mentioned before on here that I’ve been watching the religious and homosexual communities be abused and controlled by fear and rhetoric. And if we are not careful, it could break the Bill of Rights. Then the fragile peace we have in this country would go up in flames like we see in the middle east. Its a delicate line our Founding Father’s understood and they tried to balance our government to protect it as much as they could. But its out of wack, The three branches of government are no longer balanced and people are too busy screaming about selfish things to pay attention.
So I stand split in the middle. I really do hope that an answer is found that satisfies the gay marriage issue and doesn’t violate the right of religions to not be willing to perform them. As it is, you can’t object to it as a business without getting severely fined. As a wedding DJ, I don’t have a problem with doing gay events, but there are others who do and they have been fined thousands of dollars for not wanting to take part in those activities. We’re such a revenge culture now that I just don’t see this going well.



