Now that gay marriage is a decided issue in the USA, can the Catholic Church go back to preaching the Gospel now?

[CaliLobo]

pastormacsponderings.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/pondering-my-reactions-to-scotus-rulings-on-gay-marriage/

Now that gay marriage is almost fully decided in the USA, can the Catholic Church now stop attempting to meddle politically in this issue?

Can Catholics now realize that:

1. The way Catholics have dealt with the gay community has been incorrect, hateful, and bigoted, and God is telling us to rethink how we engage with gays,
2. Though Christians should not be gay, it is still biologically normal to be gay and impossible to convert one out of being gay (Exodus Int’l shutdown).
3. Extending marriage rights to gays does not affect straight people,
4. It ensures that the children of gays are legally and equally protected,
5. It ensures that surviving gay spouses are equally protected,
6. Gays are indeed capable of lasting, committed relationships, and straights are capable of swinging and depravity
7. It is futile to legislate morality,
8. If we legislate morality it leads to bad precedent and Muslims demanding sharia in the USA.
9. A secular government is not obligated to follow the Bible,
10. Ironically, although Protestant churches allow for one to vote his conscience, Protestants are more likely to oppose gay rights than Catholics. Could it be because Protestant churches actually preach the Gospel and teach the Bible to members of all ages? Could it be because Protestant churches don’t push political views down one’s throats?
11. The Church needs to change to survive another generation, and convert modern people?

Can the Catholics now give up this political fight, now that the law is decided (much like no-fault divorce laws have been decided)?

Can we go back to preaching the Gospel now? Isn’t Gospel preaching more important than politics?

Here is an excerpt from the above article that may give us clues on what to do from now on:

1. We are going to love our wives and our children and instead of defending marriage with our anger we are going to advance it by taking it seriously enough to model and live. We are going to stop worrying about the word, “marriage” and worry about the reality of it in our own families and lives. We are going to stop insisting other people build the culture we are called to build with pillars we are called as a church to build with. We will stand firm on the sanctity of marriage by keeping it sacred, not by expecting citizens of this world to agree with citizens of another.

1. We are going to love those who disagree with us. We are going to remember that none of us reaches the glory of God apart from the Grace of Christ. We are going to stop declaring that a sin which focuses on worldly love is more egregious than the million sins we sometimes let slide which don’t even pretend to an aspect of love; sins like slander and gossip and lying or, in extreme cases even violence. We are also going to love them by clear communication of the Gospel in word and deed, clarifying that all sin is big and God’s Grace is bigger.

1. We are going to love our Lord and trust Him when He says that the church is not called to rule through power of law or politics, but to serve through love and grace. We are going to remember (again) that Christ and the church has never before required the agreement of a culture (politically, legislatively or artistically) before we love those in it. We are going to remember that as we incarnate Christ’s life in us to others we can change lives. We are going to remember that laws which allow do not require and laws which forbid, do not overrule passions which control. We are going to remember that Christ alone brings freedom from sin and freedom to love.

I hope we realize that the Rainbow Rulings are God’s call for Christians to rethink how we engage with gays.

 

[ColdComfort]

God speaks through the USSC! Who knew?

 

[Aramis]

No. The rulings are (1) that it’s a states rights issue and (2) that the citizens don’t have the standing to appeal a court decision invalidating a publicly passed law.

It’s not “Gays have the right to marry.”

It’s not “the issue is decided”.

It’s “The feds don’t have the right to decide what is a states rights issue without an amendment to the Constitution, and gay marriage is a states rights issue.”

A 1-line amendment to the constitution could end gay marriage in the US… The SCOTUS has no ability to rule on the constitutionality of amendments- they are constitutional, period. they can render other laws void, tho’…

The fight to end the abberation that is “Gay marriage” and the moral holocaust that it stands to produce will not end as long as there are genuine Bible Believing Christians.

For that matter, in Islam, marriage is between a man and a woman, but a man may have 4 marriages at once…

All the abrahamic religions have prohibitions on men having sex with men in their holy texts -

the appropriate christian response is to rebuke those engaging in the sin, and to encourage the sinner to repent and sin no more. Rolling over and ignoring this moral bankruptcy of the US is not now, and never can be, acceptable to Catholics who know the faith. It should not be acceptable to any right-thinking, bible-believing christian.

 

[SAVINGRACE]

What makes you think that the CC ever stopped preaching the Gospel?

 

[Minnesota1]

There is no such thing as gay marriage.

 

[St_Francis]

Cali, what os the source of your concern about what the Catholic Church does

pastormacsponderings.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/pondering-my-reactions-to-scotus-rulings-on-gay-marriage/

Now that gay marriage is almost fully decided in the USA, can the Catholic Church now stop attempting to meddle politically in this issue?

Can Catholics now realize that:

1. The way Catholics have dealt with the gay community has been incorrect, hateful, and bigoted, and God is telling us to rethink how we engage with gays,
2. Though Christians should not be gay, it is still biologically normal to be gay and impossible to convert one out of being gay (Exodus Int’l shutdown).
3. Extending marriage rights to gays does not affect straight people,
4. It ensures that the children of gays are legally and equally protected,
5. It ensures that surviving gay spouses are equally protected,
6. Gays are indeed capable of lasting, committed relationships, and straights are capable of swinging and depravity
7. It is futile to legislate morality,
8. If we legislate morality it leads to bad precedent and Muslims demanding sharia in the USA.
9. A secular government is not obligated to follow the Bible,
10. Ironically, although Protestant churches allow for one to vote his conscience, Protestants are more likely to oppose gay rights than Catholics. Could it be because Protestant churches actually preach the Gospel and teach the Bible to members of all ages? Could it be because Protestant churches don’t push political views down one’s throats?
11. The Church needs to change to survive another generation, and convert modern people?

Can the Catholics now give up this political fight, now that the law is decided (much like no-fault divorce laws have been decided)?

Can we go back to preaching the Gospel now? Isn’t Gospel preaching more important than politics?

Here is an excerpt from the above article that may give us clues on what to do from now on:

I hope we realize that the Rainbow Rulings are God’s call for Christians to rethink how we engage with gays.

 

[CB_Catholic]

Gay marriage is NOT a decided issue in the USA. It is illegal in 35 out of the 50 states. Only 15 states recognize gay marriages. (15 too many, though).

Which means we still can do a lot to fight against it. The Catholic Church is not going to change it’s position on the matter and recognize it as legitimate. Ever. Marriage is, has always been, and always will be between a man and a woman only, because human beings cannot change what God has ordained.

That does not mean, however, that we treat gay people with less than the dignity they deserve as human beings.

 

[SAVINGRACE]

pastormacsponderings.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/pondering-my-reactions-to-scotus-rulings-on-gay-marriage/

Now that gay marriage is almost fully decided in the USA, can the Catholic Church now stop attempting to meddle politically in this issue?

Can Catholics now realize that:

1. The way Catholics have dealt with the gay community has been incorrect, hateful, and bigoted, and God is telling us to rethink how we engage with gays,
2. **Though Christians should not be gay, it is still biologically normal to be gay and impossible to convert one out of being gay (Exodus Int’l shutdown). **
3. Extending marriage rights to gays does not affect straight people,
   **4. It ensures that the children of gays are legally and equally protected,
   **5. It ensures that surviving gay spouses are equally protected,
4. Gays are indeed capable of lasting, committed relationships, and straights are capable of swinging and depravity
5. It is futile to legislate morality,
6. If we legislate morality it leads to bad precedent and Muslims demanding sharia in the USA.
7. A secular government is not obligated to follow the Bible,
8. Ironically, although Protestant churches allow for one to vote his conscience, Protestants are more likely to oppose gay rights than Catholics. Could it be because Protestant churches actually preach the Gospel and teach the Bible to members of all ages? Could it be because Protestant churches don’t push political views down one’s throats?
9. The Church needs to change to survive another generation, and convert modern people?

Can the Catholics now give up this political fight, now that the law is decided (much like no-fault divorce laws have been decided)?

Can we go back to preaching the Gospel now? Isn’t Gospel preaching more important than politics?

Here is an excerpt from the above article that may give us clues on what to do from now on:

I hope we realize that the Rainbow Rulings are God’s call for Christians to rethink how we engage with gays.

Hello,

I’m going to respond to a couple of your comments.

1. We have a couple of gay Catholics at my Church and they are treated with respect.
2. The CC has nothing to do with Exodus International. The CC has never taught that gays are biologically abnormal.

 

[CB_Catholic]

Gay marriage is NOT a decided issue in the USA. It is illegal in 35 out of the 50 states. Only 15 states recognize gay marriages. (15 too many, though).

Which means we still can do a lot to fight against it. Don’t be so pessimistic.

 

[CaliLobo]

What makes you think that the CC ever stopped preaching the Gospel?

Because even Catholics admit that catechesis is poor in the CC. Because I observe Catholics caring more about marching against abortion than teaching people about the Bible and evangelizing to others. Look at the difference in the amount poured into evangelism and teaching between Catholics and Protestants.

Look at the “Hispanic Reformation” (the fact that Hispanics are turning Protestant in the USA, and I can attest to this).

Look at the breakdown of Catholicism in Ireland, Poland, and the Philippines.

Look at how Protestants are picking up the slack worldwide to re-convert the world.

Look at the fact that people feel they are experiencing God for the first time due to Protestant churches, whereas they felt Catholicism was all about rote tradition, ritual, cultural events, and saints.

SAVINGRACE:

1. We have a couple of gay Catholics at my Church and they are treated with respect.
2. The CC has nothing to do with Exodus International. The CC has never taught that gays are biologically abnormal.

Good. Now let’s show love to them, treat them as equals, and grant them rights to marriage. And continue to preach the Gospel to them.
St Francis:

Cali, what os the source of your concern about what the Catholic Church does

Because the gay community is convinced that Christian churches, including the CC, hate them. Why would gays convert if they honestly believe Jesus hates them?

Because what the Catholic Church does today is anachronistic and does not work in modern society.
CB Catholic:

Gay marriage is NOT a decided issue in the USA. It is illegal in 35 out of the 50 states. Only 15 states recognize gay marriages. (15 too many, though).

It is an inevitably losing battle around the world. The trend is to allowing gay marriages and treating gay couples as equally as straight couples.

The breakdown of marriage is NOT due to contraception or no-fault divorce. Rather, it is the fact that it is now possible to prosper economically as a single person today, when in the past, it was not.

The breakdown is entirely because there is no longer any economic incentive to marry.

 

[Gia_B]

Most of what the OP said was about how Catholics shouldn’t be so hard on gays, then we got to this

1. Ironically, although Protestant churches allow for one to vote his conscience, Protestants are more likely to oppose gay rights than Catholics.

So, according to the OP, Protestants are harder on gays than Catholics are . . .

Could it be because Protestant churches actually preach the Gospel and teach the Bible to members of all ages?

. . . and that makes them right even though the OP had a whole list of things that Catholics should lighten up about?

Could it be because Protestant churches don’t push political views down one’s throats?

. . . and even though Protestants are more forceful about their views they are less likely to force their views on others?

Am I the only who thinks that it doesn’t make sense for the OP to tell Catholics to not do something and then praise Protestants for doing that same thing?

 

[R_C]

1. The way Catholics have dealt with the gay community has been incorrect, hateful, and bigoted, and God is telling us to rethink how we engage with gays,
2. Though Christians should not be gay, it is still biologically normal to be gay and impossible to convert one out of being gay (Exodus Int’l shutdown).
3. Extending marriage rights to gays does not affect straight people,
4. It ensures that the children of gays are legally and equally protected,
5. It ensures that surviving gay spouses are equally protected,
6. Gays are indeed capable of lasting, committed relationships, and straights are capable of swinging and depravity
7. It is futile to legislate morality,
8. If we legislate morality it leads to bad precedent and Muslims demanding sharia in the USA.
9. A secular government is not obligated to follow the Bible,
10. Ironically, although Protestant churches allow for one to vote his conscience, Protestants are more likely to oppose gay rights than Catholics. Could it be because Protestant churches actually preach the Gospel and teach the Bible to members of all ages? Could it be because Protestant churches don’t push political views down one’s throats?
11. The Church needs to change to survive another generation, and convert modern people?

Where does your teaching come from? Justify your 11 points through Scripture and show us when, in the past 20 centuries, has the Church done or taught that which you attempt to promote.

 

[Corki]

Now that gay marriage is almost fully decided in the USA, can the Catholic Church now stop attempting to meddle politically in this issue?

Can Catholics now realize that:

1. The way Catholics have dealt with the gay community has been incorrect, hateful, and bigoted, and God is telling us to rethink how we engage with gays,
2. Though Christians should not be gay, it is still biologically normal to be gay and impossible to convert one out of being gay (Exodus Int’l shutdown).
3. Extending marriage rights to gays does not affect straight people,
4. It ensures that the children of gays are legally and equally protected,
5. It ensures that surviving gay spouses are equally protected,
6. Gays are indeed capable of lasting, committed relationships, and straights are capable of swinging and depravity
7. It is futile to legislate morality,
8. If we legislate morality it leads to bad precedent and Muslims demanding sharia in the USA.
9. A secular government is not obligated to follow the Bible,
10. Ironically, although Protestant churches allow for one to vote his conscience, Protestants are more likely to oppose gay rights than Catholics. Could it be because Protestant churches actually preach the Gospel and teach the Bible to members of all ages? Could it be because Protestant churches don’t push political views down one’s throats?
11. The Church needs to change to survive another generation, and convert modern people?

Can the Catholics now give up this political fight, now that the law is decided (much like no-fault divorce laws have been decided)?

Can we go back to preaching the Gospel now? Isn’t Gospel preaching more important than politics?

I hope we realize that the Rainbow Rulings are God’s call for Christians to rethink how we engage with gays.

Same-sex “marriage” is far from decided. It is still illegal in over 30 states.

1. The way the Church has dealt with the gay community needs improvement. In too many cases, the Church has not been clear that love and acceptance of individuals does not equal tolerance of their behavior.
2. It is not biologically “normal” to be homosexual. Humans are heterosexual by nature as a species. That deviations from the norm exist might be “natural” but that doesn’t make them normal.
3. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Extending marriage rights to same-sex couples affects many people in many ways. You may think that the negative effect is “worth it” to achieve some perceived equality, but it is intellectually dishonest to say that there is no effect.
4. What does? Legalized same sex “marriage” ensures that more children will grow up in disfunctional homes.
5. Protected from what? The only protection is protection from a portion of estate tax that I know of. Any other protection of the “spouse” needs to be taken care of with a will and/or joint ownership.
6. So? Are you saying that depravity is ok as long as it is “long-lasting”?
7. That is not the nature of law. All laws legislate morality. Laws against rape, child marriage, tax evasion and slandar are all based on moral principles.
8. Non sequitor. Sharia is a body of law. Individual laws bases on moral principles, like most of the laws we have already, do not lend precedent to replacing a body of existing laws with Sharia.
9. Of course not. But it is obligated to set moral boundries and to hold its citizens accountable. Without that, we would be living in chaos.
10. See my response to point #1. Catholics, in many cases, have been confused about how to adhere to Gospel teachings while not compromising on morality. Protestant ministers have been more clear on those points.
11. The Church is always chaning but she won’t abandon core teaching.

Catholics need to be** more **engaged in the political fight now. We need to continue to preach the Gospel as we always have.

I have no idea what Rainbow Rulings are.

 

[PennyinCanada]

1. It is futile to legislate morality

It is what the state does, we cannot rob, steal, murder, rape, abuse, kidnap…You get the idea. The jails are full of people who broke the morals of our society. You really haven’t thought that through but rather soaked in what TV tells you. Do you realize how much TV and the media have influenced your thinking? You have to step out of the matrix to see it.

 

[lynnanine]

pastormacsponderings.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/pondering-my-reactions-to-scotus-rulings-on-gay-marriage/

Now that gay marriage is almost fully decided in the USA, can the Catholic Church now stop attempting to meddle politically in this issue?

Can Catholics now realize that:

1. The way Catholics have dealt with the gay community has been incorrect, hateful, and bigoted, and God is telling us to rethink how we engage with gays,
2. Though Christians should not be gay, it is still biologically normal to be gay and impossible to convert one out of being gay (Exodus Int’l shutdown).
3. Extending marriage rights to gays does not affect straight people,
4. It ensures that the children of gays are legally and equally protected,
5. It ensures that surviving gay spouses are equally protected,
6. Gays are indeed capable of lasting, committed relationships, and straights are capable of swinging and depravity
7. It is futile to legislate morality,
8. If we legislate morality it leads to bad precedent and Muslims demanding sharia in the USA.
9. A secular government is not obligated to follow the Bible,
10. Ironically, although Protestant churches allow for one to vote his conscience, Protestants are more likely to oppose gay rights than Catholics. Could it be because Protestant churches actually preach the Gospel and teach the Bible to members of all ages? Could it be because Protestant churches don’t push political views down one’s throats?
11. The Church needs to change to survive another generation, and convert modern people?

Can the Catholics now give up this political fight, now that the law is decided (much like no-fault divorce laws have been decided)?

Can we go back to preaching the Gospel now? Isn’t Gospel preaching more important than politics?

Here is an excerpt from the above article that may give us clues on what to do from now on:

I hope we realize that the Rainbow Rulings are God’s call for Christians to rethink how we engage with gays.

While there may be Catholics that do not treat those with SSA respectfully, that is not limited to Catholics. To use a quote I’ve seen elsewhere: “Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise conviction to be compassionate.” (Rick Warren) People may have SSA through no choice of their own, but that does not mean that every urging you feel should be acted on. I might want to do any number of immoral things, but does that mean I should do them just because I feel like it? Just because a group of fallible humans passed a law that says something is right does not mean that the law makes it morally correct. If a law was passed that allowed murder, would that make murder moral? I’m talking straight-up murder, like walking down the street and shooting someone because you don’t like their hair or whatever. People cannot change what is moral and immoral, regardless of how many laws they pass.

Even if no one believes it, the truth is still the truth. The Church does not need to change to survive or get with the times, the times need to get with the Church. The Church has been around since Jesus. I’m pretty sure that a few laws that go against morality aren’t going to be the death of the Church. Also there’s something about the gates of Hell never prevailing against Jesus’ church, so…

I don’t believe the Catholic Church will compromise. The Church was never around to be popular or to make friends. There was another quote I vaguely remember, but it was something about if someone was looking for Jesus in today’s world, they’d look for the church that was treated like Jesus was.

 

[CB_Catholic]

It is impossible for the Catholic Church to recognize a gay “marriage” because marriage between a man and woman was ordained by God and the Church has no authority to change what God has decreed. What part of that do you not understand, CaliLobo? God’s laws are immutable. No human being can undo them.

Or do you honestly think that man has the power to undo what God has decreed? Do you think God was wrong?

It appears that many people are arrogant enough to believe they know better than their Creator, and they have the right to declare that God was in error when he created male and female and instituted marriage between a man and a woman.

It is unequivocable in the Sacred Scriptures that homosexual relations are an abomination to the Lord and are condemned. It is plainly stated. That does not mean that the people themselves are an abomination, but homosexual sex is. Along with all sex outside of the bonds of matrimony. Do you think God changed His mind and now approves of it?

No, the Church will never give in on this. It cannot, and remain the true Church and be true to God.

 

[universityprof]

pastormacsponderings.wordpress.com/2013/06/27/pondering-my-reactions-to-scotus-rulings-on-gay-marriage/

Now that gay marriage is almost fully decided in the USA, can the Catholic Church now stop attempting to meddle politically in this issue?

Can Catholics now realize that:

1. The way Catholics have dealt with the gay community has been incorrect, hateful, and bigoted, and God is telling us to rethink how we engage with gays,
2. Though Christians should not be gay, it is still biologically normal to be gay and impossible to convert one out of being gay (Exodus Int’l shutdown).
3. Extending marriage rights to gays does not affect straight people,
4. It ensures that the children of gays are legally and equally protected,
5. It ensures that surviving gay spouses are equally protected,
6. Gays are indeed capable of lasting, committed relationships, and straights are capable of swinging and depravity
7. It is futile to legislate morality,
8. If we legislate morality it leads to bad precedent and Muslims demanding sharia in the USA.
9. A secular government is not obligated to follow the Bible,
10. Ironically, although Protestant churches allow for one to vote his conscience, Protestants are more likely to oppose gay rights than Catholics. Could it be because Protestant churches actually preach the Gospel and teach the Bible to members of all ages? Could it be because Protestant churches don’t push political views down one’s throats?
11. The Church needs to change to survive another generation, and convert modern people?

Can the Catholics now give up this political fight, now that the law is decided (much like no-fault divorce laws have been decided)?

Can we go back to preaching the Gospel now? Isn’t Gospel preaching more important than politics?

Here is an excerpt from the above article that may give us clues on what to do from now on:

I hope we realize that the Rainbow Rulings are God’s call for Christians to rethink how we engage with gays.

I certainly hope they get back to preching the Gospel. It seems like the Church has been on a political mission.

 

[CaliLobo]

Most of what the OP said was about how Catholics shouldn’t be so hard on gays, then we got to this

So, according to the OP, Protestants are harder on gays than Catholics are . . .

. . . and that makes them right even though the OP had a whole list of things that Catholics should lighten up about?

. . . and even though Protestants are more forceful about their views they are less likely to force their views on others?

Am I the only who thinks that it doesn’t make sense for the OP to tell Catholics to not do something and then praise Protestants for doing that same thing?

No, I point this out to show that Protestants have been better at the mission that Catholics want to accomplish, by being flexible politically and NOT shoving political views down one’s throats.

Both Protestants and Catholics today are slowly becoming more accepting of gay marriage rights. They are correct, and Christlike, to do so.

R_C:

Where does your teaching come from? Justify your 11 points through Scripture and show us when, in the past 20 centuries, has the Church done or taught that which you attempt to promote.

“Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Today, social justice-oriented Catholic and Protestant churches are realizing their historical errors and actually applying this verse towards gays.

 

[StudentMI]

“Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
Today, social justice-oriented Catholic and Protestant churches are realizing their historical errors and actually applying this verse towards gays.

The Church has been nothing but compassionate to those with SSA, but it’s not loving your neighbor to just stand by quietly, nodding your head in approval as they hurt themselves. Jesus told Mary Magdalene “Go and sin no more.” He was loving to sinners, but didn’t approve of their sin, nor encourage them in it.

 

[R_C]

Where does your teaching come from? Justify your 11 points through Scripture and show us when, in the past 20 centuries, has the Church done or taught that which you attempt to promote.

…] otherwise your assertions are just your own personal ideas. I would however want to show you some of the most ludicrous aspects of your post.

1. The Church has always taught that “there is neither man nor woman, but all are one in Christ”. She has taught that all discrimination is to be avoided towards homosexuals. Instead, I know of some quite civilized and modern nations who not too long ago (in fact, less than a century ago) punished homosexuals with brutal practices (ex. Labouchere Amendment in England). The Church condemns all lust and practices that desecrate sexuality, not the sexual orientation. Same-sex sex is as condemned as masturbation or heterosexual marital sex closed to procreation, for instance.
2. That is anti-scientifical nonsense. APA writes that sexual orientation should be considered fluid, just to mention an example. Besides, it is nowhere written that Christians should not be gay. All should find God and be members of His Church. What is written is that all sexual act closed to procreation is an offense to God.
3. Nonsense. When matrimony is redefined from what God intends (the lifelong union between one man and one woman, where sexual intercourse - marital embrace - is practiced for procreative and unitive purposes) this strikes to the core of society itself. Especially when adoption is being considered.
4. Explain who are the children of gays, and if they are by adoption, what happened to their right to have a mother and a father, as they were born from a mother and a father.
5. Factually inaccurate.

• A 2001 National Center for Health Statistics study on marriage and divorce statistics reported that 66 percent of first marriages last ten years or longer, with fifty percent of these lasting twenty years or longer. A 2002 U.S. Census Bureau study reported similar results. The 2003-2004 Gay/Lesbian Consumer Online Census surveyed the lifestyles of 7,862 homosexuals. Of those involved in a “current relationship,” only 15 percent describe their current relationship as having lasted twelve years or longer.
• In The Sexual Organization of the City, University of Chicago sociologist Edward Laumann argues that “typical gay city inhabitants spend most of their adult lives in ‘transactional’ relationships, or short-term commitments of less than six months.”
• In his study of male homosexuality in Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present Times, Pollak found that “few homosexual relationships last longer than two years, with many men reporting hundreds of lifetime partners.”
• In Male and Female Homosexuality, Saghir and Robins found that the average male homosexual live-in relationship lasts between two and three years.

1. Prostitution and pederasty were quite common and legal in quite advanced civilizations, until the Church fought for moral legislation to be implemented. Just one example.
2. Or to good precedents, as I mentioned above.
3. A secular government is obliged to give the best and promote good. It can be shown that the orthodox apostolic teaching on morals as kept by the Catholic Church (and distorted by other denominations) is through reason alone the best that can be promoted. If you do not believe my words, read Thomas Aquinas and a few other authors, for education does marvels in getting our facts straight.
4. Probably not, since “Protestant” churches usually teach whatever interpretation of the Bible they came up with and push down their faithful’s throats some quire anti-scriptural post-XVI-century principles such as “sola fide” and “sola scriptura”.
5. The Church has 1.2 billion faithful and growing, and is found in all the nations. When the bishop of Rome is being elected by cardinal bishops and cardinal priests and cardinal deacons from all over the world, the whole world turns towards Rome and listens carefully. When he prays with the people and preaches Christ crucified, thousands gather. At the world youth day of 2011 over 1.5 million people traveled from all over the world. The 2013 March for Life in D.C. drew an estimated 650,000 people. The 2013 March in France to defend family drew an estimate 400,000 people. You judge