Posts
“Storms make trees
take deeper roots.” – Dolly Parton
Today I want you to think. There will be questions throughout this post
that will provoke thought and pondering. Please take time to think. Use your brain. This is a big issue in our
world today.
We live in an age where values and morals are
constantly evolving. In this day it’s hard to be a religious person with strong
roots and beliefs in marriage and the sanctity of family. So many people are
working to change these beliefs and warp them into something not ordained of
God. “…As late as 1985, NO nation permitted same-sex
couples to marry... In fact, in the entire history of the world, no country had
ever before allowed same-sex marriage” (Weinberg). Same sex marriage is a recent concept that
started being accepted only thirty years ago. Why now? What changed in the last
30 years that made it acceptable?
People
actively supportive of same-sex marriage often ask, “What does it matter to
you? It’s my life.” Lynn D. Wardle from Reuben Clark Law School stated, “Helping
people to see that legalizing same-sex marriage…is an attack on marriage is not
easy. The harm it causes is not like a broken bone sticking through the skin or
blood pouring from a severed artery. It is more gradual and subtle. It is like
the dangers of smoking—the damage is not obvious at first, and by the time
people realize that smoking is harmful to them, irreversible damage has often
already been done.” It took almost a thousand years for humans to discover
smoking causes cancer. There are cave drawings of Indians smoking cigarettes in
the Mayan Indians of Mexico that date back to 600 AD. It wasn’t until 1953 people
discovered the hazards of tobacco and linked it to cancer. Needless to say it
can take a century to find out the negative impacts of something on a society
and by then it’s too late.
MEN, WOMEN,
& CHILDREN
“Redefining parenthood as a side effect to
redefining marriage without even considering the consequences” – Jennifer
Roback Morse
Matthew Chapter 19:4-5 says, “Have ye not read, that he which
made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause
shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they
twain shall be one flesh?” God made Adam and Eve the first married couple on
earth and commanded they “multiply and replenish the earth.” Can two men or two
women create life? So if the purpose of marriage is for man and woman to create
life and off spring, what is the purpose of same-sex marriage? “Marriage is far
more than a contract between individuals to ratify their affections and provide
for mutual obligations. Rather, marriage is a vital institution for rearing
children and teaching them to become responsible adults”
(newsroom). Genesis 1:28 reads,
“this power of procreation—to create life and bring God’s spirit children into
the world—is divinely given. Misuse of this power undermines the institution of
the family.” If marriage were meant to be between man and man or woman
and woman, why didn’t God make it that way? “Men and women are different in a universe of complementary ways and
aspects. The gender integrative union of a man and a woman is different than
the gender apartheid union of two men or two women. The union of a man and a
woman in marriage creates a unique and uniquely valuable union much greater
than the sum of the parts” (Popenoe).
Many people only think about the
differences between same-sex marriage and heterosexual marriage. But what about
the difference between children raised in same-sex marriage households and heterosexually
married households? Is there a difference between how they are raised? David Blankenhorn from an article in the New
York Times states, “Every child deserves to be raised by his or her mother and
father. While unwed birth and divorce impair that right for some children of
conjugal unions, same-sex marriage guarantees that all children
who are born during or raised in such unions will be deprived totally of this
fundamental moral right.” There have also been studies regarding this issue. “Extensive studies have shown, that a husband and wife who
are united in a loving, committed marriage generally provide the ideal
environment for protecting, nurturing, and raising children. This is in part because of the differing qualities and
strengths that husbands and wives bring to the task by virtue of their gender.
As an eminent academic on family life has written: The burden of social science
evidence supports the idea that gender differentiated parenting is important
for human development and that the contribution of fathers to child rearing is
unique and irreplaceable . . . . The complementarity of male and female
parenting styles is striking and of enormous importance to a child’s overall
development” (Blankenhorn). Do children have the right to be born into a family
with a mother and a father? Or is that right taken from them simply because
there has been laws passed that says same-sex marriage is ok?
HEALTH
& EXPECTATION
“It’s bad enough that people
are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance.” – Elizabeth Taylor
Is
ignorance truly bliss?
“The morality and
behavioral expectations of gays and lesbians differ markedly from married men
and women. For
example, promiscuity, infidelity, multiple sexual partners, and dangerous
sexual practices are the behavioral norms among gay couples (and also, to a
lesser extent, lesbian couples), rather than monogamy and sexual self-control
which are the norms fostered by and nurtured in heterosexual marriages.” Kirk
and Madsen reported that “the cheating ratio of ‘married’ gay males, given
enough time, approaches 100%. . . . Many gay lovers, bowing to the inevitable,
agree to an ‘open relationship,’ for which there are as many sets of ground
rules as there are couples.” Having such a high infidelity rate makes one
think. Why do gay people fight so hard for the right to marry then turn around
and cheat on their spouse?
Regarding
health, “Gay sexual intercourse is the primary means of transmission of AIDS in
the United States and a dominant transmission method worldwide. AIDS is
estimated to have killed over twenty-five million people worldwide and is thus
one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history” (World Health
Organization).
SOCIETY AND
RELIGION
“The First Amendment may protect clergy from being forced to
perform same-sex marriages, but other people of faith have faced and likely
will continue to face legal pressures and sanctions. The same will happen with
religiously affiliated institutions and educational systems. For example, a
Georgia counselor contracted by the Centers for Disease Control was fired after
an investigation into her decision to refer someone in a same-sex relationship
to another counselor. In New Jersey, a ministry lost its tax-exempt status for
denying a lesbian couple the use of its pavilion for their wedding. New
Mexico’s Human Rights Commission prosecuted a commercial photographer for
refusing to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony. When public schools in
Massachusetts began teaching students about same-sex civil marriage, a Court of
Appeals ruled that parents had no right to exempt their students.” Many
Catholic Adoption Charities have been forced to close rather than be forced to
place children in a same-sex marriage home. “In the name of tolerance, we’re not being tolerated,” Bishop
Thomas J. told the New York Times when the church stopped adoption services
rather than comply.
This doesn’t only effects adults, but children
also. “…From elementary school through high school, children are taught
that marriage can be defined as a legal union between two adults of any gender,
that the definition of family is fluid, and in some cases that consensual
sexual relations are morally neutral. In addition, in
many areas, schools are not required to notify parents of this curriculum or to
give families the opportunity to opt out. These
developments are already causing clashes between the agenda of secular school
systems and the right of parents to teach their children deeply held standards
of morality” (Shih).
“Similar limitations on religious freedom have become the
social and legal reality in several European nations, and the European
Parliament has recommended that laws protecting the status of same-sex couples
be made uniform across the European Union. Where
same-sex marriage becomes a recognized civil right, it inevitably conflicts
with the rights of believers, and religious freedom is diminished” (Trigg).
CONCLUSION
“Love the Person,
Not the Action.” – Anonymous
“The Church has
advocated for legal protection for same-sex couples regarding “hospitalization
and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so
long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the
constitutional rights of churches.” In Salt Lake City, for
example, the Church supported ordinances to protect gay residents from
discrimination in housing and employment. The Church’s affirmation of marriage
as being between a man and a woman “neither constitutes nor condones any kind
of hostility toward gays and lesbians.” Church
members are to treat all people with love and humanity. They may express
genuine love and kindness toward a gay or lesbian family member, friend, or
other person without condoning any redefinition of marriage” (Church Newsroom).
Works
Cited:
Martin S.
Bell & Alan P. Weinberg, Homosexualitys: A Study of Diversity among men and
women 308-09 (Newsroom).978).
Joint United
Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Health Org. (WHO), Aids Epidemic
update (2003-2005).
Lynn D.
Wardle, “Multiply and Replenish”: Considering Same-Sex Marriage in Light of
State Interests in Marital Procreation, 24 HARV. J. L. & PUB. POL’Y
771, 796 (2001).
Gay Issue
Spurs Catholic Group to End Adoptions, ABC NEWS, Mar. 12, 2006,
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Story?id=1715489&page=1.
Matthew
19:4–5.
Genesis 1:28.
David
Blankenhorn, Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most
Urgent Social Problem (New York: Basic Books, 1995)
David
Popenoe, Life Without Father (New York: The Free Press,
1996), 146.
Mormonnewsroom.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/statement-given-to-salt-lake-city-council-on-nondiscrimination-ordinances.
Sherif
Girgis, Ryan T. Anderson, and Robert P. George, What Is
Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense (New York and London:
Encounter Books, 2012), 62–64.
Roger Trigg, Equality, Freedom, and Religion (London
and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012); The Observatory on Intolerance
and Discrimination against Christians in Europe, Report 2012 (Vienna, Austria, 2013); “European
Parliament Resolution on Homophobia in Europe,” adopted Jan. 18, 2006.
Gerry Shih, “Clashes Pit Parents vs.
Gay-Friendly Curriculums in Schools,” The New York Times, Mar.
3, 2011, page A21A; John Smoot, “Children Need Our Marriage Tradition,” Public Discourse, June 13, 2013;
thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/06/10344/;Challenging Homophobia and
Heterosexism: A K-12 Curriculum Resource Guide, Toronto District
School Board (2011).
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