Christians and Bigotry Part 2

Some Follow-Up Comments on Christians and Bigotry

Discussion. Discourse. And it is all civil and thought out. (Three incomplete sentences, all.) I have received several comments, both public and private, about my Christians and Bigotry post. They range from agree to agree-to-disagree, but I think the whole process has been very interesting.

Some have posed questions to me and I have done the same. I’d like to make it all a bit more public so the questions and comments gets flushed out a bit more. So in the Socratic tradition, I want to ask more questions to you all and maybe even post some thoughts I’ve had. Let’s see what comes of it.

1. Should polygamists also be able to have multiple marriages? This is the typical response from the opponents of gay marriage. If you’ve followed my blog for anytime, then I think you know that I could care less. If two or three or 12 consenting adults want to have sex and live their lives together, then I could care less, even if they want to do it legally. To oppose it is a form of discrimination. It is a “duh” issue to me. Right now, the polygamists are not pushing for rights to marry as much as they are for the end of the prosecution of those engaged in lural marriages. I do have problems when polygamists marry 14-year-olds, and this appears to happen a lot. But that is a different issue. Isn’t the leader of the polygamist movement on trial for that very thing right now? If I remember correctly, he isn’t on trial for polygamy but for rape of a minor.
2. What is your definition of “discrimination”? Apparently, we do not all agree on the definition that I used: Having different rules for different people is discrimination. Some feel that if a belief is steeped in religious dogma, then it is not discrimination. Bull [cough]. If you do not agree with the definition of “discrimination” that I have offered, then post your definition of “discrimination” here and defend it.
3. Should government be involved in marriage? That’s a big heck no from me. I say marriage is a religious ceremony and each church/denomination should be able to decide who they will bless in marriage. I think we should abolish government marriages and simply have civil unions. Let the church decide the sanctity of marriage.
4. I have my own forms of discrimination. I can think of two cases where my personal views (which are based on religious and secular ideas of right and wrong) are also forms of discrimination. The first involves say an 18-year-old and a 27-year-old (for instance). I can think of one instance when I oppose the marriage, civil union or sexual encounter of these two consenting adults. If the 18-year-old is in high school and her love is a teacher, then I oppose their “connection” based on the fact that the elder is in a position of power over the younger and violates the ethics of the teacher. This would also be true if the gender roles are reversed.
5. I practice another form of discrimination. I am opposed to minors and adults having sexual relations. This includes the polygamists who practice the marriage of children to adults and those attracted to children. There are some groups that support adult-child relations as a perfectly normal and healthy outlet and that our laws are not allowing the child to express his or her own inalienable rights. Something like that anyway. My beliefs preclude me from supporting this view, therefore I am discriminating against both the adult and the child in this case. I do not try to rationalize that my belief is not discriminatory simply because of my religious beliefs. I simply accept the fact that it is discriminatory. The protection of the child is more important to me than the sexual civil rights of the adult, in this case.