What's the big deal? When are people going to learn?

Question

I just got into a heated debate with a dear friend regarding same s*x marriage. I couldn't understand his point of view. His church is preaching hate from the pulpit, insinuating that same s*x marriage somehow harms "traditional" marriage, and that they should all vote against equality.

How, exactly, does two people, who have nothing to do with you, harm your traditional marriage?

I agree that the government shouldn't force churches to do anything against their belief systems (no matter how archaic), so they don't need to perform same s*x marriages within their church. The government wouldn't be legislating your religion, so what's the big deal?

I think the "civil union" thing is total c**p too. Suffrage and equal pay for equal work, and african americans getting separate bathrooms and drinking fountains...(the list goes on and on) if separate isn't equal in these cases, why is it okay now? (remember, people used religion to promote inequality before, so that answer doesn't hold water)

If you can give me a great answer that doesn't quote anything from the bible, I'd love it!

Answer 1

I doubt I can give a great answer to this topic but I do believe people confuse the difference between "tolerance" and "acceptance".

I myself don't agree with same-s*x marriage but I find it very difficult to find a way to justify imposing my will on others.

It's also obvious that people are born this way. Scientists and researchers have found many examples among many kinds of animals in nature (sheep, walruses, primates, etc.) where they exhibit homosexual behavior.

I mean let's face it. Homosexuality has been around since before the Bible was even written. It's estimated that at least 10 % of the world's population today is g*y. It's not exactly something you can pray away.

Answer 2

I'm only going to comment on your first two paragraphs, since the rest is just opinion (which is fine; you need to vent, apparently, though I apologize that I skimmed through it).

The answer is that same s*x marriage does not harm traditional marriage. Just the fact that homosexual people want to get married does not in any way directly affect traditional marriage. The existence of same s*x marriage doesn't automatically ruin my wedding if I propose to my girlfriend. It's very simple. Anyone who can't understand this has a very backwards mindset or is stupid.

What I mean with that is that these people have programmed into their mind (or had someone else program it into them) a certain set of beliefs. While it's certainly okay to have your beliefs, where these people fails is that they think their beliefs are correct and/or superior to others. It's being stubborn to put it very lightly.

I'm not religious (my mind functions purely through logic and reason) and I don't mean to bash religious people, but from what I have observed, this sort of attitude is expressed mostly from said group of people, since they cling to religion like an insecure child and his/her blanket. What this results in is a weakness in character as all they come to learn and understand is from some book or something. I mean, I don't want to get into how it's like the aforementioned programming and how open mindedness is generally not a quality encouraged, so I'll move on. Again, I don't mean to be offensive to any religious people; I'm just making an objective observation.

So well, to summarize (in case you didn't get my point through the rambling), there are people out there who can't step out of their own frame of reference to understand or accept others. You can try to convince through reason and logic, but most of the time those are brain functions that are not fully developed in these individuals.

Bottom line: They'll never learn (I guess they could, maybe I'm being cynical).

Answer 3

This is more a discussion than A question but I will try and give you my opinion on the matter.

The problem in my opinion is mandating it at the federal level in the first place. That is the silliest idea i've ever heard about. Each state should decide what they want to do and let the people decide. San Francisco is wayy different than San Antonio. The fact that "one rule fits everyone" is BS. Another good thing about letting each area/state decide for itself is you get some variety in how things are run. If it's the worst idea ever, then OK we change it back and only a small segment of the population is affected. If it's an awesome idea, then lead by example and lets start rolling it out in some other states.

But having the government decide how every single person lives and what benefits they get? Crazy talk IMO. Give some power back to the people and let decide how to run things in their town, and tax them accordingly.

The "big deal" isn't how you feel about homosexuals, it's how you feel about the government controlling your life. :) CA and MA are off to a great start, lets see how it goes and then go from there. "One rule" for everyone isn't the answer, everyone feels differently about the subject.

I don't think your friend is being very logical in his arguments though and you'll probably not make any headway in that regard. Some people just hate g**s and try to come up with "other" reasons i think. Sad