I believe you have the definition of 'right' and 'privilege' confused. For example:
Driving is a privilege. Freedom of religion is a right.
Poor choices while driving will cause you to lose your license.
Poor moral choices will not affect your ability to practice the religion of your choice.
Similarly, marriage is a right that cannot be taken away because of past behavior. If it could, 90% of Hollywood would not be able to get a marriage license.
Since marriage IS a right, the right to marry cannot be withheld arbitrarily. To wit, because of the 14th amendment, it cannot be available to one group and not another.
Marriage is NOT a privilege extended by law to an institution optimally designed for forming families in which children can be born and raised. It is a union between two individuals, regardless of their desire or ability to procreate. Legally, it extends certain rights - not privileges - to the participants. Some of these rights are available ONLY if the participants are legally married.
As far as Christianity, what I was taught as a Catholic was that it is up to God to judge, not us. It is not up to Christians to point out the sins of others, only to offer guidance and assistance to those tempted by or fallen into sin. Specifically, Christians are not supposed to support punitive measures towards moral sinners - i.e. cast stones.
What bothers me most about these wedge issues is that the people most affected by them are not the stone casters, but the targets of the stones. Seems very unChristian to me to spend so much time and energy with the end result being so hurtful. Whether two people that you never will know are married and spend their lives together should not be such a big issue for supposedly tolerant Christians.
Now, if someone came to their door and tried to convert them to their POV, that might be different...oops, I guess that's called proselytizing... |
