Posted by NikkiT2 on March 6, 2005, at 3:33:30
In reply to Re: marriage isn't religious.., posted by rayww on March 5, 2005, at 19:24:11
Which came first, politics or religion..
Well, um, It would have to be politics. Civilised man was around alot earlier than religion.. Laws were around in England LONG before Christianity reached these shores..
By religion, do you mean Christianity? Because Buddhism was around thousands of years before Christianity.
You said "Marriage is central to my religion,".. I think the word that needs to stand out in that sentence is *my*. Its only central to YOUR religion, not everyones..
And ofcourse I don't think that all laws that match with, say a commandment, should be removed. I just believe that the bible was an early form of political statement.. A way to live 2000 or what ever years ago. But its now the 21st Century, and we have perfectly good systems of government in the UK, the US, Australia and other western countries, so, in my opinion, laws should be made, regardless of religion.
Civil marriage is a perfectly acceptable way for hetorosexual people to marry. Its a legal contract with NO religious involvement (Though I believe in the US, you can have a civil marriage that involves some religius aspect).. Why should that legal contract, in a legal context, be removed from a large section of the population, simply because they are homosexual.
Why should a homosexual man not be able to make medical decisions, as next of kin, for his partner of, say, 20 years? Why should he not be able to take on his partners pension after his death as a hetorosexual person would be able to?
I'm speaking about it in a purely legal sense. I know that a religious marriage is about pro-creation, and I can completely understand why the Church and its members would be against religious homosexual marriage.
You say "Rights and privileges can be offered, but they must be different, not entirely the same.". Why must rights and privileges be different? What rights must be different?
And why not call it marriage? My husband and I call ourselves married, and we called what we went through a marriage. No God involved, no religion. Just our love, and sharing that with friends and family, and making our future more secure within the legal frame work that constitues marriage.
I, I admit, completely fail to understand what it is about homosexuality that it should be sectioned off from such a large part of what makes our society. But then, I was bought up believing EVERYONE is equal, and that everyone should be afforded equal rights, and that someones sexuality isn't something to fear. But I guess, even though I was bought up in a small town, my mum had a number of gay friends, that had been her friends since high school in the 1950's, so it was nothing out of the ordinary for me at all (and meant I was also the best dressed 5 year old in town *L*).
At the end of the day, love is love. And in this day and age, (the era of aids) I believe monogomany between any two people should be encouraged.
Nikki x
poster:NikkiT2
thread:464602
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20050122/msgs/467235.html