"Rainforests deserve, yes, our protection, but the human being … does not deserve it less"

 

Pope Benedict said that above. And I agree with him completely.

photo credit: roblisameehan

 

But not in the way he would like me to. We are all tasked with the responsibility to protect the human species. However, we must remember that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. We must always stay vigilante in our ideas as some of our best ideas can become flawed and must be thrown away.

I’ve been thinking about this subject for a few days now. I have talked about this with family, with my father. The war rages on in this debate; should gays be allowed to marry? Those who believe deeply in the word of the bible do not believe they should be able to. They believe the bible states marriage is between a man and a woman.

All people want to be treated equally and yet seen differently. Gay people have their

photo credit: rgeorgi

parades to show the world that they’re different, even when they beg to be equal. Black people had their march and I suspect that gays will cease their parades when equality is met. If that would be reality

"What about your morals? If you allow gay marriage, what else will you allow?" I’ve been asked and told. And all I can believe is that morals exist outside religion. I know there are atheist who are moral. If fact plenty of gay christians are moral I’m sure. it is said that the Catholic Church teaches that "homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are." But to me this defeats any logic because isn’t any waking moment for a homosexual person a homosexual act? Or was the Church really referring to the sexual part mostly, you know two guys packing fudge.

Regardless of your beliefs, it is easy to see the error in all this; language. The word marriage confuses all, gays and non-gays a like.

 

photo credit: Randy Son Of Robert

"A rose by any other name will still smell as sweet"

 

 

This I believe is the core of the problem. The problem of language, a human construct, imperfect and misleading. The term Civil Union is exactly what a marriage is. The problem however is in practice. Civil Unions enjoy none of the federal and state protections that a Civil Marriage receives.

What a lot of people don’t realize is the separation between the terms Civil Marriage and Religious Marriage. Instead people lump it all into one general term. Most gay people don’t care about the Religious Marriage, and why should they as its obvious that particular religion that defines their marriage being between a man and woman wouldn’t be for them anyway. But they care about the Civil Marriage. About the universal understanding. That these two people are together. And also for the governmental recognition.

The government doesn’t really belong that far into the personal lives of people anyway, and the Catholic Church and any other religion shouldn’t have their fingers in government as well.

Bottom line is: gay people aren’t looking for religious recognition, that belongs to each person individually, gay people are looking for institutional, governmental recognition. recognition that Civil Unions do not provide.

second bottomline: this goes for so much more than the gay debate; don’t let words fool you. Pull them apart. Own them.

Sources: www.yffn.org/admin/spi/marriagevsunion.html news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7797269.stm