Same Sex Marriage - 2006-11-29
Apparently the Harper government wants to open up the same sex marriage issue again. What is wrong with this group of narrow minded bunch of village idiots? The issue was dealt with last year, let it rest.
The people who seem to be so up in arms about the issue all seem to be connected to organized religion. Recognizing gay marriage does not force churches to perform same sex marriages. Recognizing gay marriage does not affect churches or their beliefs at all.
There is only one way that I can see that same sex marriages affect organized religion and that's in their congregation numbers. If, for example, the United Church allows and performs gay marriages and the Catholic church doesn't, I can see where more open minded and progressive thinking parishioners may decide to leave the Catholic church in favour of the United church. Let's face it, religions are based on morals and values from over 2000 years ago and while many of those values are valid today, many are not. The churches which have evolved over time and adjusted their values to coincide with social values of the day will ultimately be the better attended churches.
Accepting or not accepting gay marriage will be a definite indicator of the social maturity of a church and this scares the religions who are not willing to accept same sex marriage to death. Because they are not willing to evolve in step with the social values of the day, they are pressuring the government to ban this human right. Once the right to marriage is prohibited by the government, it takes the pressure off of the church to evolve and removes the indicator of their social maturity.
Religions have every right to have their own beliefs and values. Religions have every right to promote their beliefs and values. Religions have no right to impose their beliefs and values on those who disagree with them.
The government has no right to legislate a ban on marriage for a select few. The government must enact legislation that applies to everyone and not a selected group. The government must defend the rights of minorities. The government must allow marriage for everyone or no one.
