Marriage is a religious and spiritual matter, not a state matter. The separation of religion and state (not "church and state," since the word "church" is Christian-biased) should also recognize the separation between marriage and state, since diverse religions already define marriage quite diversely. Not only have American governments passed laws defining appropriate marriages, but the same laws also favor a Judeo-Christian marital ethic, namely, marriages that are monogamous and heterosexual. And yet if America is supposed to favor freedom of religion, why then do her governments pass laws promoting one religion's freedoms at the expense of another? In Islam, a man having up to four wives at the same time is considered properly married, but the laws in America call such polygamy illegal. Some religions promote homosexual marriages, but again, the laws in America fiercely oppose them. Does America champion freedom of religion or not? And if she does claim to champion freedom of religion, why then does she uphold and continue to pass laws against certain religions by passing laws against their marital practices, even if those marital practices do not injure or kill any other citizen? Either America should allow people to truly have freedom of religion, honoring whatever type of marriage desired, or America should simply throw the First Amendment and freedom of religion into the trash in favor of her obvious Judeo-Christian bent. After all, American government calls it "separation of church and state," not "separation of religion and state," remember?
There will always be a problem when defending the freedoms of one American citizen whenever those freedoms offend the sensibilities of another. How do you defend two lifestyles that are radically opposed to each other on practically every front? Some fundamentalist religious groups have been at war with each other for centuries, long before America was even born. And while some nations have embraced homosexuals for centuries, others have put homosexuals to death for centuries, simply for being homosexual. Although the concept of Democracy is as old as the Ancient Greeks, its actual practice as a foundation for civil and human rights is still quite recent and, at best, quite a challenge to implement on a daily basis. Who ultimately gets the last word on right and wrong?
Copyright (c) 2004, All Rights Reserved
There will always be a problem when defending the freedoms of one American citizen whenever those freedoms offend the sensibilities of another. How do you defend two lifestyles that are radically opposed to each other on practically every front? Some fundamentalist religious groups have been at war with each other for centuries, long before America was even born. And while some nations have embraced homosexuals for centuries, others have put homosexuals to death for centuries, simply for being homosexual. Although the concept of Democracy is as old as the Ancient Greeks, its actual practice as a foundation for civil and human rights is still quite recent and, at best, quite a challenge to implement on a daily basis. Who ultimately gets the last word on right and wrong?
Copyright (c) 2004, All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment