A word about this blog
Yesterday was frustrating for me. I threw up the article about gay marriage because I am interested in this topic and I didn't have time to write a lengthy post. I was happy to receive feedback from readers. Always am. I don't need agreement (anyone who knows me knows at least that much). I like to know and understand the positions others hold so that I can better understand them.
For instance, I am pro-life. But I get how the pro-choice movement organizes its rationale. I don't line up with their point of view, but I find their arguments compelling and they make sense to me. I can see why there is conflict over abortion in our culture. If called upon, I can make a case for the pro-choice point of view (I could even write an essay about it and I think make a good argument). I could do the same for conservative religious beliefs, the charismatic movement, why one must not use birth control in obedience to God, the necessity of state controls to monitor home education, and why we should have invaded Iraq. I don't hold these positions but I do grasp why these positions exist and I can see the way the logic works that organizes the positions.
Perhaps it is the writer in me, but this is how I approach most topics. I'm interested to understand from the inside how a perspective looks to the ones who hold it.
So yesterday (and the day before) the discussion in the comments section of the gay marriage post floored me. I am interested in why those who hold an anti-gay marriage position do so, and I want to know their arguments/case/pov. Categories for reflection were put forward (with a lot of passion which I don't mind) as though these categories equalled an argument. I could not see the argument inside the category and asked for more data.
Yet I felt accused of not listening (in spite of repeatedly trying to reframe the other positions and asking for more help in understanding and more insight). I did not always understand (that's the nature of online communication and it's up the the original poster to clarify when that occurs, not assume malice). But I do want to. This issue is of real importance to me and has been for fifteen years. (Fwiw, I have been pro-gay marriage as long as the issue has been up for discussion, even as an evangelical Christian.) I have studied this topic, have dialogued online about it, in person, read articles, books, have asked countless Christian leaders about it...
What I take away from all that discussion is that those who are "pro-hetero marriage" and "anti-gay marriage" believe that one perspective is objectively true and must carry the day legislatively for all. They don't feel the need to make space in the law for an alternative (homosexual) perspective about morality, nature, reason, law, however you want to frame the debate. Anti-gay marriage advocates would not be content for this issue to be a matter of opinion... legal provisions for those who support it but opposed in specific communities of faith, etc.
They sometimes cite a belief that society will suffer if gays marry, but usually there just isn't that much data to show what that suffering means or will look like. Right now, gays live together as married couples all over the country. They are, ironically, married in churches. They don't have the legal rights to go with those marriages. But they have the blessings of their various faith communities. So gay marriages are already a part of our national landscape. What is lacking are corresponding tax benefits, health insurance coverage, hospital visitation etc. without having to go through special legal steps to ensure these things.
There was a time when interracial marriage was feared and prohibited. Back when blacks were not allowed to intermarry with whites, similar arguments were made: against nature, the Bible, reason, sociological norms. Eventually intermarriage became a moot point because the younger generation was never persuaded by those arguments.
That's what I'm seeing today. The younger generation is unpersuaded by the anti-gay marriage lobby. They see gay friends dating, they watch MTV shows that pair up gay couples, they are friends with gay teens. Somehow the anti-gay marriage reasoning isn't getting across the transom. Don't you wonder why?
P.S. I closed comments on this topic just so that I can get my schoolwork done. Peace to all.
