CON Proposition 8

The progress made with the election of Barack Obama was dampened with the passage of Proposition 8 and similar discriminatory acts around the country. Those leading this absurd crusade were the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Christian Right.

The fact that ignorance can bring together people from two different faiths is staggering. The passage also signified once again how overriding the traditional church is in our national affairs.

Proponents of Prop 8 and similar attacks on the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender community have all trumpeted “sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman” as reasoning for their actions.

Lloyd Lowe, president of the Boise State Secular Students Alliance said the campaign was, “Nothing more than just pure bigotry.”

How many poltical figures have been married multiple times? And while the LDS church no longer advocates polygamy, the two most forefront figures in their belief system are Joseph Smith (believed to have had more than 25 wives) and Brigham Young (55 wives).

“How does this law make their marriage [the fundamentally religious groups] any safer? The divorce rates in Canada and Massachusetts haven’t exploded [since lifting the ban on LGBT marriages],” Steve Perry of BSSSA said in response.

The supposed sanctity is strictly woven to Christian beliefs. An interpretation of religious text is the sole reasoning behind their conduct.

What right does a religion whose holy book, which also advocates death for working on Sundays (Exodus 35:2), slavery (Leviticus 25:45-46) and considers consuming shellfish an abomination (Leviticus 11:10) have to guide a democracy’s moral compass?

Based on this principle, James Rodriguez, another member of BSSSA said, “If you don’t want to be gay married, don’t. If you don’t want an abortion, don’t. But you have no right to enforce those beliefs on me.”

The Religious Right is losing power to those different from them. Fundamentalists cannot bear the thought of change without assuming their world will crumble. Out of desperation they cling to anything to give them a semblance of that former power.

Their actions are not done in worship of their “god” but in fear. They fear the world is changing, progressing beyond their outdated and flawed beliefs – beliefs that have no right in dictating societal values.

PHIL BODE
Arbiter Journalist

Related Posts:

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2. Marriage, more than a word
3. Vote with conviction
4. One wife, two wife, three wife, phew!
5. Marriage is more than a proposition