Saturday, March 31, 2007

Gay Marriage

The self-righteous knuckle draggers in the Indiana State Legislature are at it again. They are wholly focussed on getting a state constitutional amendment passed outlawing gay/lesbian unions. They are obsessed with the one man-one woman thing. The bible thumpers rage on about the "sanctity of marriage" and how allowing the abomination of gay coupling free reign will undermine the moral fiber of our great, god fearing nation.

What a load of crap! These are by and large the same group of elected officials who spent uncounted hours a year or so ago while in session arguing in outrage against a heathen judge who ruled that they were not to utter prayers on state property that promulgated any specific religion, say, christianity. [Let's not hear any of that "in jesus' name" stuff.] Pretty much nothing got done in that particular session except ad nauseum bitching about not being able to evoke jesus name in prayer. Although, their getting nothing done is pretty much par for the course.

The sanctity of marriage, huh? A union which can be entered into while drunk on your ass in Las Vegas at 3AM at drive-thru nuptuals in a service performed by an Elvis impersonator is certainly something about which to be sanctimonious. How sacred is a union that ends in dissolution more than 50% of the time? Isn't divorce a threat to the sanctity of marriage? Isn't adultery? Adulterers, according to Leviticus 20:10, should be "put to death." How can pious christians remain mute about adultery, which not only involves out of wedlock fornication, but which also implies betrayal, obfuscation and deceit, while in the same breath demand a constitutional amendment against same sex unions? READ YOUR DAMN BIBLES! How is the sin of adultery any less heinous? Could it be that far too many of these hypocrites have been wetting their dip sticks in forbidden fruit as it were? (How's that for a mixed metaphor?) Do they tell themselves that, well, since they've prayed for forgiveness, that it's okeedokee? That they get a pass?

How is it that supposed "literal" christians can rationalize how they pick and choose what portions of the bible to revere and what they are free to ignore? Isn't the bible "inerrant." Isn't it all absolute historical truth? Isn't every word to be strictly obeyed? Who gives anyone the right to be selective? Shouldn't all devout christians who own up to their shortcomings, their lies, their deceits, their lusts immediatly run out and impale themselves on the nearest church spire?

It is so tiresome to hear these lame assed Neanderthalic legislators prattling on about marital sanctity. There is not one member of either Indiana house who has the guts to stand up and attack this proposed amendment directly on its merits. The few voices raised against it have spoken of how it might hurt business. Business for christ's sake! Large employers in the state including Eli Lilly, Wellpoint Insurance and Cummins Engine, among others are concerned regarding how such an amendment might adverselyaffect their recruiting efforts and the application of certain company benefits that currently are made available to employees in same sex relationships. Others raised concerns about the status of men and women who may co-habitate, but are not married, and how it might affect divorced couples. That's great.

But not one of those gutless bastards will even come close to dealing with the true issue at hand: The right of two people to form a legally recognized bond regardless of gender. I am acquainted with a few same sex couples. One of those couples has a 9 or 10 year old daughter. If passed, this amendment could possibly negate their parental rights. Should it become law, the government could perhaps snatch the girl right out of their house, no questions asked. (That'd show them peter puffin' faggots, by god!)

Again, I say that if you are going to outlaw same sex unions, you should also outlaw adultery, divorce and, yes, the loathsome and utterly disgusting intermingling of linen and wool (Leviticus 19:19.) Oh, the humanity!

"Ho, ho, ho" you good christians say. God was just a joshin' about that linen/wool thingy. Bullshit! If gays are an abomination, so too are all godless minglers who keep forbidden linsey-woolsey boxers squirreled away in their chests of drawers, perhaps hidden under their cotton/polyester blend Fruit of the Looms. You all shall be eternally damned to hell, I say, you mongrel garment wearers, you! Fie, I say! Fie on thee! The Minglers Bureau will root you out! (Hey, Budreau, they nabbed some o them minglers! Fill up yer pockets with some good throwin' rocks and hot foot it over't the fair grounds. It's stonin' time agin! Yeehaw!)

In the end, this amendment is not about marriage or its sanctity. It is about hate. It is an abuse of power.

TLS



8 comments:

Terry S said...

Just an update. The amendment did not make it out of committee. The entire process will likely have to go back to square one. It could take as long as 2 years to get back to this point again.

I hope it dies a quiet death.

TLS

Mariamariacuchita said...

great writing..this is hilarious!
Those adulterous linsey-woolsy minglers going after gay unions! Damn them.

jazzycat said...

Terry,
I hope you are feeling better. We have hashed this subject before so I won't comment.

Question: I have been wondering if there are any politically conservative atheists out there. I have no reason, but it has dawned on me that I have not run across one. Could you let me know if you have run across any conservative atheist bloggers?

Boy my knuckles sure get bloody dragging the ground.

Thanks

Terry S said...

Maria...,

Yes, it is maddening, isn't it? Thanks for stopping by and for the comment.

Jazzy,

Hope you too are well.

As a matter of fact yes, I do know at least one conservative atheist. A fellow I alluded to in a previous post, an old army buddy who lives in Chicago. He actually introduced me to existentialism and free thought.

However, he is politically very conservative. He voted for Bush, hates the Clintons, supports the Iraq war, is anti-gay and remains somewhat of a racist. He is of Ukrainian descent and remains living in the old ethnic neighborhood in which he grew up.

I met with him last summer for the first time since I left the service back in 1967. It was great to see him. We reminisced, but I must admit, I was a bit chagrinned that he had gravitated so far to the right politically.

But, you are, by and large, correct. As far as I know, most atheists and agnostics do tend toward the left politically and socially. There are probably substantive reasons for that, some obvious, some perhaps not. I won't go into all that here.

By the way, you should put something on those knuckles; especially on your left hand. They weren't meant to stand that kind of abuse.

TLS

jazzycat said...

Terry,
Thanks that was interesting. Thanks. BTW racist does not equal conservative. I perceive much condescension and exploitation on the part of liberals toward minority racial groups. Somehow they never get called on it.

Terry S said...

Jazzy,

I did not mean to intimate that his conservatism was tied to his racism. It just happens that this fellow is both. We are, I suppose, largely the product of our environment. Growing up in an ethnic neighborhood - in his case, Ukrainian - in inner city Chicago through the 1950s and '60s might have had a tendancy to breed racism of one kind or another.

BTW - I am feeling somewhat better. Perhaps I am adjusting to the medication. I don't seem to tire quite as easily as I did a few weeks ago.

Stay well,

TLS

Terra said...

Terry,

I'm glad it died. At least for now. Perhaps (and I'm being optimistic here, something I don't do often...) the climate will have changed two years from now and we will be one step closer to equal rights instead of one very ugly step farther away.

Terry S said...

Terra,

What is so worrisome is that there remains a concerted effort to enact a same sex union ban amendment to the US Constitution. To do so would set this nation back generations in comparison to most of the western nations. We would be more akin to the middle east - the muslim world than with the more closely related Europeans.

It is truly a concern how backward the US is becoming owing to the great numbers of highly religious people who forsake modernity and science (only about 30% of Americans believe in Evolution.)

Coming out of WWII the US was the most technically advanced nation in the world. Science and technology were kings. Now, only 60 years or so later people shy away from science in the fear that their god does not approve. What a load of crap.

Most of Europe, Japan and, perhaps most significantly, China are moving forward by leaps and bounds in most scientific fields while our government spends a great deal of its time, money, effort and energy combating gay marriage, abortion and stem cell research. We will be left in the dust figuratively, and perhaps literally - maybe radioactive dust at that.

TLS