We WERE right all along!

YES advocate says: NO voters were right. It was about more than marriage

Well.. One of the gay marriage advocates has admitted we were right.  It always was about more than just “marriage.”

I believed that the YES vote was the right case and I believed it for a long time… But Cory Bernardi and others were right. It wasn’t just about a vote about marriage. In fact, it would be about rolling back the way the system currently works for religious organisations to decide whether or not they can hire people based on their sexuality, whether they can decide to marry people based on their sexuality. Because as we speak there is a review going on to religious freedom…

Yeah, religious liberties be damned, if it gets in the way of the agenda.

“Same Sex ‘Marriage’ isn’t” – Southern Baptists

The Southern Baptists tell it like it is. Not always and not perfectly but they understand the role of religion in a free society.

Fox News quotes from the Baptists’ findings on same sex “marriage.”

marriage is “the exclusive union of one man and one woman” and that “all sexual behavior outside of marriage is sinful.”

It acknowledges that gays and lesbians sometimes experience “unique struggles” but declares that they lack the “distinguishing features of classes entitled to special protections.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/18/southern-baptists-meet-during-challenging-times/

I’m reminded of the Catholic Church’s official teaching on homosexuality.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

see http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P85.HTM

Also I’ve posted about this previously April 2009.

I’ll say this just so it gets said.  God made all people.  Some are attracted to people of the same-sex.  (and some  have disordered attractions to all manner of things).  That is not bad or good; only acting on these disordered attractions is wrong.  This doesn’t in anyway affect the Church’s – or any decent thinking person’s – love for them as God’s created handiwork.  The Church uniformly tells us also to absolutely love these people.

https://deliberateengagement.wordpress.com/2009/04/10/not-prolife-specifically-but-an-attack-on-the-church/

Same Sex Marriage is NOT “Just as Good” for Children

A rigorous scientific study reveals that if you choose a valid study group not the small non-random populations that homosexual activists use then the outcomes for children are far worse than when the children have their mom and their dad as parents. Not always possible of course but that does not justify lying about the facts.

The study appears in the July issue of Social Science Research. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X12000610

Thanks to Austin Nimocks for pointing this out in his article at Town Hall.

Here is a wonderful article about a troubling problem

We need to know what is legal that is popularly thought to be illegal.  (False “Separation” of Church and State.)  Here is a wonderful – if troubling – article by the Alliance Defense Fund.

El Paso City Leaders Declare War on Civil Liberties of Christians

• BY ALAN SEARS POSTED APR 3, 2012

It leads with:

The penalty for opposing the policies of El Paso mayor John Cook are getting stiffer – maybe as stiff as “sign a petition, go to jail.”

and later states:

“El Paso citizens should not live in fear of being arrested and jailed for exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech,”

I made a reply to a comment by a person stating the (false) opinion that “Church’s (sic) can’t be political”

http://blog.telladf.org/2012/04/03/el-paso-city-leaders-declare-war-on-civil-liberties-of-christians/#comment-485198460

NC Amendment 1

The Baptists are leading the way on the defense of traditional marriage.  They held a conference last week on the importance of marriage to our society.  It included necessarily a religious viewpoint but also secular and practical reasons to defend marriage.  http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37523

Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of North Carolina Values Coalition, said that “when marriage is redefined as genderless, there are legal consequences for anyone who disagree with it.”

“Everything from inheritance laws to property rights must then change,” she said. “If you disagree with this, you’re treated as a racist and as a bigot.”

Also the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh has weighed in – clearly and I think effectively – in favor of the amendment.

Bishop Burbidge Discusses Religious Liberty and Marriage Amendment

On May 8, 2012, voters in North Carolina will have the opportunity to make the traditional definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman part of the North Carolina Constitution.  On this week’s Catholic Perspective and Catholic Weekly, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge explains Catholic teaching on marriage and encourages the faithful to vote for the marriage amendment.  Bishop Burbidge also discusses the ongoing efforts to overturn the recent Department of Health and Human Services mandate requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs.

Watch Catholic Perspective online (Windows Media)

from: http://www.dioceseofraleigh.org/news/view.aspx?id=1436

NC Amendment 1 to protect traditional marriage

The Baptist Press posts an interesting analysis of the polls of North Carolina voters concerning Amendment 1.  The amendment states:

Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.

Several polls last week showed that the amendment is likely to fail.  The Baptists however state:

Two new polls that use the exact language citizens will see on the ballot show a proposed North Carolina marriage amendment with a substantial lead.

A survey of 1,191 likely voters by Public Policy Polling has the amendment ahead, 58-38 percent, while a poll of 1,001 by SurveyUSA has the amendment up, 58-36 percent.

I live in perhaps one of the most liberal places in the United States.  Jesse Helms once said – when he balked at spending money on a state zoo – to instead “put a fence around Chapel Hill.”

That said, the received wisdom that I hear from everyone on this issue is that Same-Sex Marriage is a “right.” If we oppose it – with this amendment or otherwise – we will be seen as the hateful south – a real boogie-man to many down here.

However it seems that most of North Carolina agrees with me.

Whether this amendment is good business or good politics or good jurisprudence remains to be seen.  Arguably it may be a necessary step to prevent the courts from overturning validly enacted laws defining marriage.  Where supporters have succeeded in making this a “rights” issue in the press (sometimes by using deliberately distorting the phrasing of poll questions), supporters of traditional marriage are painted as backwards at best and hateful knuckle-draggers and likely KKK members at worst.  I’m not; at least I don’t think I am.  It appears that most of voting-age North Carolina agrees with me – except in this little island of self-righteous liberalism.

Baptist Press article is at:
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=37524&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed0403

Why Fight Same-Sex Marriage? Here’s why

This is a religious argument in summary but it’s substantial and convincing.
The author says:

Why fight same-sex marriage? Even in America, where the outcome is not yet decided, there appear to be good reasons not to.

then:

Can it really be worth fighting then?

The answer is yes, for reasons that become clear…

Read the whole article at: http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=25-01-024-f

Sex Ed and a Culture of Life

The Culture of Life Foundation gives us much to think about.  This essay the last in a series tells us how the culture – our laws, our behaviors and our expectations – need to change to fundamentally improve the respect for children.   The culture seemingly denies where children come from – like in a 1950’s sitcom.  If we fix that and acknowledge the hard truths of the facts of life we will improve our culture.

http://culture-of-life.org

Admitting Sex is Procreative – a Surprising Proposal to Curb Nonmarital Births

…the conceptual nub of my proposals, I would suggest that any response to these issues must “put the baby back into sex.”
By this I mean that men and women need to acknowledge the overwhelming importance of heterosexual relations’ orientation to the procreation of children – helpless creatures who require decades of intensive labor, a lifetime of interaction, and who apparently come into the world with an inbuilt desire to remain connected to both their father and their mother. No matter the heights and depths of couples’ romantic aspirations and experiences, these can never be divorced from the crucial reality that heterosexual relations are procreative. The law has always known this. Most churches did or still do. And now couples must acknowledge it too, with help from every possible governmental, religious and other social institution. Once the baby is re-introduced into couples’ sexual consciousness, they can better understand that nonmarital sex has its own intrinsically public significance.

http://culture-of-life.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=598

Sex is OK

As a resource, and a delightful bit of prolife theology that can shake up a debate where a ProAbortion person attacks the Church as out of date and prudish…

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7534337

Sex Sermonist’s Heroes: Pope John Paul II and Hugh Hefner

And it’s not just the red slippers?

“As Christians, we are desperately in need of a renewed vision of our sexuality,” West has sermonized. “The union of man and woman itself is meant to be here on planet Earth an image, a foretaste, a little glimmer of the eternal ecstasy that awaits us in heaven.”

Devout Catholic Christopher West Lays Out Unexpected Vision of What Sex Can Mean for Christians

“I actually see very profound historical connections between Hugh Hefner and John Paul II,” said West.

The seeming paradox of West’s position is captured in the unlikely pairing of his two big heroes — his muses, you might say. They are Pope John Paul II, and Hugh Hefner. A saint and a sinner.

By DAVID WRIGHT and ELY BROWN
QUARRYVILLE, Pa., May 7, 2009

Christopher West is not your average sex therapist. He’s a devout Catholic who believes one of the most important ways we can get closer to God is through great sex.

Meet the man who preaches new rules for Christian sexuality.

Vatican Authority to Reject Diplomats – a wide ranging dialog.

We (Laura and I) are exploring some interesting ground on the Internet.  Please see the debate and discussion at:

Pope rejects all of Obama’s ambassadors for being pro-choice

Someone commented “at” me.  (Here’s their entire post #1639 so I can be properly accused of editing them. http://www.topix.com/forum/news/abortion/TFQP2A7JORFA3VCDF/post1639)

Arrogant… Gee, that word keeps coming up, doesn’t it?

I replied: http://www.topix.com/forum/news/abortion/TFQP2A7JORFA3VCDF/post1645

I agree. You should at least use a thesaurus or something when insulting me. I’m not offended. I’m a volunteer here to teach. By definition the vernacular includes vulgar language. We don’t formally have High English and Low English like German has Hochdeutsch and local dialects. English does however have what your mother used to call “polite conversation.” Try it.

Now back to the real argument.
1. Does the state have the right to decide that a baby in utero is “human enough” to have human rights?
2. How do you propose that be measured in law? Is it gestational age, viability, implanted or not?
2a. What about healthy human embryos in vitro?
2b. What about selection in vitro or in vivo for gross abnormality? Downs Syndrome? sex? hair color?
(Later I added: 2c. 50% out of the birth canal?  99% out of the birth canal?  When the village elders check that it has no deformities?)
3. How do we decide? What decisions are her’s alone? Her parents’ if a minor? Her husband’s? Her boyfriend’s? Her sperm donor’s? Her anonymous sperm donor’s? Her doctor’s? Her school’s? Her university’s? The courts’?(here’s a tough one) Her statutory rapist’s?
4. What current laws are just? Which are unjust?
5. What social attitudes do not conform to the reality of the ethic you propose?
6. Who should pay for the legal procedures for citizens? legal residents? non-legal residents? residents of foreign lands?(ie via foreign aid)
7. What professions should be required to participate as part of their job?(pharmacists, doctors, nurses, aid workers, diplomats, etc.)
8. Just to get back to the point of this forum: What political and diplomatic actions are justified for the Vatican State to see their Choices on these matters are respected?

Answer these and we’ll be getting somewhere. Paint your picture and I’ll paint mine. Your’s looks pretty ugly and presented in this light – not behind the cover of democratic-sounding “Choice” – will be offensive to most Americans.