Government and Morality
In a recent article on ABC News - go here for the full article - regarding the Ten Commandments on public property, one of the protesters, a David Condo of Beltsville, Maryland, outside of the United States Supreme Court made the following comment, ''I don't think government should be in the business of morality.''
Right, Mr. Condo, I agree in toto. By your statement, the Ten Commandments ought to be removed. If the government doesn't legislate morality, then we cannot have the Ten Commandments on public property or else our government is tacitly showing a preference toward Judeo-Christian mores.
What is interesting is that when some bright person tries to point out this fact, the Religious Right rises up and starts gibbering like deranged vampire bats.
Moreover, if our government is not in the business of legislating morality, why does the Religious Right start bellowing about morality when the topic of secular gay marriage rights are brought up? By the logic of Mr. Condo, the government should recognize same-sex marriages without a problem. Not a single piece of legislation supporting same-sex marriages has ever attempted to force religious foundations to perform them. All we want is the ability to march in to our City Hall, plunk down the money for our marriage license, and then get married by a Justice of the Peace or whomever.
Yet, for whatever reason, when this is discussed, John Q. Cheesepuff in the Bible Belt starts writhing on the floor and chewing holes in his shag carpet because two men or two women in loving and committed relationships are immoral or some such because 'the Bible tells me so'.
Whatever.
Oh, and no, legalizing same-sex marriage won't engender a sudden spike in people applying to marry their dog, pet goat, or gold fish. That seems to be a straw man created by the demented. And it is really an exceptionally offensive inference, too. We're not talking about non-sentient animals and humans when we discuss same-sex marriage rights. We're talking about a secular social contract between two consenting adults. How hard is that to grasp?
Ultimately, the government doesn't have the right to legislate religious morality. It does, however, have the right to govern the morality of such things as murder, perjury, etc. If we fail to stop the Religious Right from their drive to control our government, we'll have our own version of the Taliban right here in the United States. That's not a particularly pleasing idea, is it?
Right, Mr. Condo, I agree in toto. By your statement, the Ten Commandments ought to be removed. If the government doesn't legislate morality, then we cannot have the Ten Commandments on public property or else our government is tacitly showing a preference toward Judeo-Christian mores.
What is interesting is that when some bright person tries to point out this fact, the Religious Right rises up and starts gibbering like deranged vampire bats.
Moreover, if our government is not in the business of legislating morality, why does the Religious Right start bellowing about morality when the topic of secular gay marriage rights are brought up? By the logic of Mr. Condo, the government should recognize same-sex marriages without a problem. Not a single piece of legislation supporting same-sex marriages has ever attempted to force religious foundations to perform them. All we want is the ability to march in to our City Hall, plunk down the money for our marriage license, and then get married by a Justice of the Peace or whomever.
Yet, for whatever reason, when this is discussed, John Q. Cheesepuff in the Bible Belt starts writhing on the floor and chewing holes in his shag carpet because two men or two women in loving and committed relationships are immoral or some such because 'the Bible tells me so'.
Whatever.
Oh, and no, legalizing same-sex marriage won't engender a sudden spike in people applying to marry their dog, pet goat, or gold fish. That seems to be a straw man created by the demented. And it is really an exceptionally offensive inference, too. We're not talking about non-sentient animals and humans when we discuss same-sex marriage rights. We're talking about a secular social contract between two consenting adults. How hard is that to grasp?
Ultimately, the government doesn't have the right to legislate religious morality. It does, however, have the right to govern the morality of such things as murder, perjury, etc. If we fail to stop the Religious Right from their drive to control our government, we'll have our own version of the Taliban right here in the United States. That's not a particularly pleasing idea, is it?
posted by The Wicked Brian of the West at 9:31 AM
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