Seperation of Church & State In A Modern World Part II: Examining The Gay Rights Issue
April 15th 2009 09:13
“Humanity is the keystone that holds nations and men together. When that collapses, the whole structure crumbles. This is as true of baseball teams as any other pursuit in life.”
~ Connie Mack
~ Connie Mack
When our forefathers set out to write the Constitution and Bill Of Rights, the spirit of their assembly was out of an overwhelming desire to form a more perfect union.
A more perfect union entailed laying the ground work for a society that was better than the things that propelled them to wage war on a tyrannical oppressor.
An oppressor that laid rules on men involving taxation without representation set up a class system where a person’s birth right set up a path of economic peril or spoon fed royalty and a dictation of which the religious order a person belonged to based on the whims of governmental figures.
Of all the Amendments to the Constitution, the “Separation of Church and State” has been one of the few articles left open for interpretation by our founding fathers.
What we’ve achieved in our 232 years of existence is a balancing act where religion is part of our system of law, social conscience and spirit of humanity but also a source of backlash in a progressive society.
As our society has advanced into homogony, the battles of world conflict and strife have not only come to the door step of government, but also have come back to institutions of religion.
Battles where religious leaders used the bible to justify the institutions of slavery, strife against other religious groups and oppression of their own members are now being used against them to justify progressive agendas.
The dust has settled on these issues from a dark past and the 21st century has allowed the true words of peace and love to shine through in most religious conversations, but there will always be those who choose to misconstrue religion for power and hate.
The problems we face as a society today aren’t as simple as a man being judged by the color of his skin or a woman being expected to ascend to a certain role in society, but are rather a war of extremes in the vision of the American Way of Life.
The words in the Constitution state that every American is entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In its simplest form, this means that every American is entitled to live their own lifestyle within the bounds of the law, finding love and happiness with whomever they choose regardless of gender, race, religion or creed, possess their own system of beliefs whether that be religious or non religious and live by their own personal code.
With these clear and unalienable rights, there should be nothing left to misconstrue in the intentions of the Constitution when it comes to the issue of Gay Marriage in a modern society.
The conversation our media is afraid to have is within the laws that are being passed to achieve this goal. The law dressed up in the cloth of the civil rights movement of the 60’s attacking the core beliefs of the three major religions.
Every American has the right to marry the person they fall in love with and achieve the same level of happiness, but other Americans have the right to their religious beliefs and to disapprove of the lifestyles that fall outside of their own.
The ultimate argument comes down to the belief that homosexuality is choice vs. that of homosexuality being a natural occurrence. I’m not here to argue semantics as I believe, I’m coming into these argument’s centuries too late and no scientist will ever be able to solve the puzzle.
What we need to do is find a way to honor our Constitution without forming an assault on religion and inflaming the issue to a point of chaos.
Violence to any person regardless of his or her race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation is flat out wrong in any society.
I am proud to say that we have advanced to a point where we now have job protections that cover American’s sexual orientations, but much like the civil rights and women’s rights movement, there is still a mountain of work that needs to be done.
Men and Women are still forced to live in the shadows of a society that won’t accept them for who they are. This is among the many issues surrounding this topic that need to change, but there is no cure for ignorance, small minds or those who look to take advantage of society’s insecurities.
Assault on the fundamental institutions of religion through forcing them to perform ceremonies that go against what they believe is not the way to achieve forward progress on this complex issue and will only be met with strong resistance stifling any future progress.
The solutions we need have to come from a place where we agree to disagree and find a way to live with each other for the greater good. When all hell breaks loose, we seem to find a way to jump out of our comfortable bubbles of religion, race, nationalism and gender and I can’t see how this situation will be any different.
When it comes down to it, we all cry the same tears, bleed the same blood, feel the same pain, find and lose love the same way. Our differences only come about in what we believe and how we engage times of conflict. Now is not the time to simply ignore the problem and not learn the nuances of why things aren’t progressing.
The more we point the finger and blame the other side for being backwards and archaic the more the other side will backlash and the impasse will grow.
Our nation was founded on the words of “All men being created equal.” We can only achieve this goal through respect for all men and not trampling all over the very things made our nation great.
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Comment by Anonymous
Good topic:
I noticed that one of the commenters on your facebook account immediately cited the composition of the Constitution and its deference to the "Creator" as reason enough for being opposed to the declaration of gay rights, and at the same time, but possibly unintentionally, as the reason a separation of Church and State is never in absolute terms. I'm guessing he himself is not a Supreme Court Justice, and thank the Creator he wasn't around during the Civil Rights/Women's Rights Movements.
I think it's more important to consider what reasons the "forefathers" would have had to add certain words or phrases, as they labored so meticulously over every hair of hemp on which the bill of rights were written. The purpose of the Constitution is to govern and protect the rights and freedoms of all, but more specifically, the minority opine. How can you cite the Constitution, which serves the purpose of protecting and ensuring freedoms, as reasons why a certain minority should NOT be "awarded" certain freedoms which they seek? You can't. Not logically
You can only make certain arguments against gay marriage and rights: Health concerns, parenting concerns, religious/moral concerns, and so on... But you can't say the Creator through the Constitution doesn't allow it. The Bill of Rights weren't written by Apostles or Disciples. You cannot cite, as all knowing, the same Constitution that once considered the ultimate manifestation of a woman's destiny to be domestic engineer, or that a black man is at best 3/5ths of a human being. Has the Creator now changed his or her mind, thus allowing amendments?
It's important to conserve the Constitution, but it's more important to realize its purpose, and that sometimes expanding IS conserving. The integrity of the Constitution is more important than anything. We’ve been misguided, or even unguided, by the Constitution in the past, but had the sensibility to amend it rather than eradicate it.
Unless your argument is made on religious or moral grounds, a reasonable person has to admit some concessions.
Comment by Anonymous
I appreciate everything you've brought to the conversation with your in depth insight...
Comment by Eli Miller
The "separation of church and state," "all men are created equal," "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" all in my mind lend to the legality of gay marriage per the constitution.
The church says marriage is between a man and a woman. Our constitution and laws should be looked at through the eyes of someone without religious beliefs. They should be viewed with moral, justice, liberty, fairness and all adjectives that describe a civilized society. They should be regarded with creating equality and fairness among HUMANS (race, religion, sexual orientation all excluded).
There is no right of the government to dictate who someone may love or enter into a legal union with.
I don't know my religious beliefs. For a long time, I thought homosexuality was wrong and disgusting. We learn as change as we experience and live. Now I see it as something as simply biological as color and does not make any man or woman any different than anyone else. Maybe my lack of religion allows me to view things with open eyes and an open mind. But, isn't that the meaning of separation of church and state? Look at the constitution and law making through an unfogged glass. Look at it throught the eyes of ALL humans.