So I've been putting this post off for about two weeks now. In fact, I've been putting off a lot of posts the last two weeks. Not enough time and if I'm not really into the topics at the moment I don't feel motivated to write.
Anyway, I've been not-so-patiently listening to all of the people bumping their gums about the gay marriage issues being brought up recently. I have to admit that, although as a Catholic-American man I am a firm supporter of traditional marriage, I could not really hold my own in a debate (or screaming match) with liberal/libertarian friends. I know in my heart that marriage is one man and one woman in a monogamous, life-long union, but how do I answer people who ask me how allowing gays to marry affects my life or my marriage? I have a vague explanation floating around in my fat head about the sociological implications and marriage being primarily for the procreation of children and, therefore, the propagation of the species. I also know that two men cannot conceive a baby together any more than two women can, therefore kind of supporting my sociological argument. That's about as far as I go. I get stuck here and have been tempted to concede that gay marriage will probably be legalized and I should just get used to the idea.
That's where other smart people come in. Call me a cheater. Get over your shock that I am not a super-genius (I just look like one). Yes, I did some research online and found some tasty nuggets of knowledge about what the gay marriage debate is really over. And guess what? It has nothing to do with religion! It also is not really about equality. The goal of the proponents of gay marriage seems to be to redefine marriage from "one man, one woman" to simply "one person to another person," totally eliminating any gender qualifiers. "So what," you say? "Why can't you just let people love who they want? How does who they love affect your marriage?"
Enter the good folks at Catholic Answers. You are probably thinking, " Hold on, I thought you said this was not a religious issue? Here we go! Now the truth finally comes out! You just think God hates gays 'cause the Bible says so and that's why you are against gay marriage!" Calm down. Yes, I found my answers from a Catholic organization, but check out the links below and you will see the Catholic connection is merely a coincidence. Here's the logic: tradition marriage makes good sense on a natural law level. Most societies around the world regardless of religion reflect this. And since the natural law is something that seems to be written of the hearts of all mankind, it stands to reason that there is a Supreme Legislator creating this natural law. This Supreme Legislator resembles the concept of God and since Catholics believe in a God Who has revealed Himself to man, we kind of grasp onto the concept of traditional marriage. Since we believe in God and believe He put the natural law in place we believe in traditional marriage. There...see? Makes sense right?
These first two links take you to archives of Catholic Answers radio show "Catholic Answers Live." It's a live call in show where listeners get questions answered. The callers are all pro-gay marriage and ask questions very representative of their demographics. Notice the callers keep trying to bring up religion while the host and guest keep telling them it is not a religious issue and not once do they bring up religion to argue their point.
This is a link to an article published by Catholic Answers about the gay marriage issue. It addresses all the same points brought up in the live show, but allows the reader to get straight to the arguments.
I would ask anyone who truly cares about this issue to check out the links, consider the points made in them with intellectual honesty and then discuss either here or on my Facebook page Erik the Catholic Guy. This is not simply me being a bigot and not wanting to allow gays the pursuit of happiness. You will see why after listening to the discussions and reading the article. Enjoy and I look forward to some good charitable discussion.
