Marriage equality – NOT even in outward appearance!
The whole “Marriage Equality” issue is before my state’s again. This issue comes up every year. Those who are pushing for a change in the definition of marriage, whittle away a little more each year. The theory is that eventually, those who are agains change will wear down and compromise. The proponents also vilify those who stand for what is right and true. We are called bigots and charged with hating people with same-sex attraction.
Once again, I wrote to my representative and received the following response:
“I am fully supportive of marriage equality. The Church is entitled to define marriage however it like. The State is not entitled to, and must not, treat two adults differently than two other adults. It is an equality issue. It is a civil rights issue. It is not a religious issue. Thank you for contacting me on this important topic.”
What saddens me most about this response, is that my representative is a “practicing” Catholic, who graduated from Providence College (run by esteemed Dominicans), and did further studies with the Black Friars (Dominicans) in Oxford.
Either there was something seriously flawed with his education, which I doubt, or he is not a very serious Catholic – one thing for sure, his philosophy is very fallacious.
Let’s take a look at the response I received.
“The Church is entitled to define marriage however it like.”
No! This is wrong. The Church is not entitled to define marriage. Marriage is not something that any of us created or define, it is part of the very fabric of human nature. Marriage is written into natural law. This is the very reason that the Church is so insistent on protecting the institution of marriage. It is not simply the public recognition of a committed relationship between two adults. If that were the cast, there would be no reason to defend marriage. Marriage unites a man and a woman with each other and any children born from their union. Marriage is procreative, it brings life into the world, and sustains and nourishes it.
“The State is not entitled to, and must not, treat two adults differently than two other adults.”
This is completely false. If this were true, then, the state would have to permit a person to marry anyone they so choose. But the state does not give a man the right to marry his grandmother, sister, or mother. The government would not have the right to stop someone from marrying one woman or 100 women. If those who are pushing for equality of marriage for people with same-sex attraction succeed, the next step will be polygamy, because once you destroy the true design for marriage, anything goes.
It is an equality issue.”
There is no comparison between the union of a man and a woman and the artificial union between two people of the same sex. The first is of the natural order. Even the state cannot bestow marriage where it is not possible. They can pretend that a union exists when one does not. The marital union brings life into the world and if the marriage is not consummated, it can be declared null and void. There is no possibility of two people of the same sex consummating marriage, nor is there any natural way for two people of the same sex to bring life into the world. Without getting descriptive, we can see why two people of the same sex cannot bring life into the world. The problem today is not that natural law is no longer in force, it is the denial of this truth and acceptance of relativism. Even some people who have been schooled in solid philosophical reasoning throw all reasoning aside and follow the emotion of the crowd. The state does not have the power to make all people equal. Men and women are not equal. Women can bear children. No matter what laws are created, or how much men desire to have children, men will never be able to bear children. The issue of “marriage equality” is the same. No matter how hard our representatives try and how many laws they create, same-sex couples will never be married. This is not an equality issue! Insisting on equality where it doesn’t exist will cause destruction of the family and chaos in society. Marriage is and will only be the union between a man and a woman and the children who are born of this union, even if every nation decided to “change” the definition of marriage.
“It is a civil rights issue.”
This is not a civil rights issue. People do not have the right to anything they want in life. There are three rights guaranteed us by the US Constitution. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The right to life is the only fundamental right and all other rights proceed from it. The right to liberty is freedom from government coercion, but not freedom from the natural law. And finally, the right to pursue individual happiness. This gives one the right to choose what constitutes their personal happiness and individual accomplishments. However, this right must respect the same rights in other people. These rights do no give a person the right to anything they want. All rights must correspond to the natural law. Marriage is the union of a man and a woman and the children who are born of this union.
“It is not a religious issue.”
This point is preposterous. It maintains that people faith do no the right to voice their opinion in society, only people without faith do. People of faith are part this great nation, they pay taxes, they work in the community and contribute to society. Those who claim people who practice religion have no voice in society are bigots of the highest degree and the most intolerant people in society.
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Father I am a faithful catholic, educated by the jesuits, and attend mass weekly. I have no problem with a state granting marriage rights to two people of the same gender. It is a civil matter of law, not a matter of religion. No one is forcing a catholic priest to marry people in contradiction to their faith.
No one, neither Church or state can give to people of the same sex the right to marry. The state does not “create” marriage. Marriage is of the natural order. Natural law clearly shows that marriage is the union of a man and a woman and the children that are born of that union. There is no way for two men or two women to consummate, because there is no true union. All we have to do is look at the biological order – young or old, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, a man and a woman bring new life into the world, not two men or two women.
“No one is forcing a catholic priest to marry people in contradiction to their faith.” The contradiction is to the natural law. This is only the beginning of the homosexual agenda. Obama stated “military chaplains don’t need conscience clause”. Of course they do, as does the Catholic, Jewish, Muslim or Atheist business owner whose conscience is against the re-definition of marriage. Will our government respect their choice to deny requests for wedding receptions and providing other services to those who pretend to enter into marriage? Those who want to live by their conscience will be, and already have been, labeled biggots in states that have redefined marriage.
Either the Jesuits watered down the truth or did not present it properly. To be a “faithful Catholic” means that we form our conscience according to the teaching of Christ, His Church and the natural law. In Pascendi Dominici Gregis, St. Pius X (Pope) stated that those who follow error and “relying upon a false conscience, … attempt to ascribe to a love of truth that which is in reality the result of pride and obstinacy.”
Thanks for replying. We will have to agree to disagree. I see nothing wrong with it. The jesuits did an excellent job of educating me. I attend mass weekly and very grateful for the role my faith has played in my life.