The Church dissuades and admonishes its faithful against pornography and homosexual acts.
Which is fine. The problem is she also dissuades and admonishes the rest of us about it, as well. The catechism specifically calls on secular governments to ‘not allow’ the distribution of pornography. How arrogant to think they should be influencing governmental regulations except in countries that are universally catholic. (Lest you think I’m picking on catholics, the same is true of ANY religion. The worst offenders are of course Muslims who have instituted literal theocracy. No human should have to that forced upon them.)
But let me say that the life that you talk about with candor and scenarios you use in this forum including your disdain for God and religion can be regarded as over the top for many.
I have no disdain for god. I have very different ideas about his nature than you do, but no disdain. It’s true, I’m not big on religion at all, but that’s because I perceive that
every religion is passing things off as absolute truth that in actuality it has no way of truly knowing. When I ask admittedly silly questions like ‘Does god speak to the pope on the phone’ it’s not because I think that’s a remote possibility, it’s because the question of how they know what they teach is important, and I’ve never gotten an answer from anyone that amounted to anything more substantive than ‘it’s true because it’s true’. If they’re just ‘making it up as they go’ that has very serious implications about the truth of every religion the planet has ever known.
And that is
exactly what I think is happening. I know that just me saying that makes you uncomfortable, but it is what it is. The entire religion depends on the idea that God literally spoke with a guy named Moses thousands and thousands of years ago. If Moses were a fraud, or even worse was invented by some other, unknown person, then the whole shebang goes away. And why does god speak with humans back in the day, but not any more?
And think of the stories. The Israelis, slaves to the Egyptians and basically at this point in history little more than a nomadic band of desert dwellers are THE chosen people of the almighty? How convenient that Moses was Israeli, imagine if he had been Chinese? We’re not all equals to god?
My father’s generation and mine (and siblings’) see homosexuality as a trial, something to manage, not promoted or celebrated.
But what if, and humor me if you must, I’m right? That the nature of god and religion and the reality of existence is much different than you believe? For proper context, you need to know I believe that reincarnation is real. And I believe that we come back many times, in the course of learning many lessons. What if the reason homosexuality exists is to help us as a species overcome unreasonable biases against them, and we won’t truly be accomplishing our goals until it is something that is, not promoted or celebrated I wouldn’t say, but at least treated with dignity and respect?
I know you do not accept this as natural law, that it is written in the hearts of men.
Were that true, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Indeed, not only that, but there wouldn’t be, now or ever, homosexuals to argue about.
Why are you so vested in it? Oh, yes, so that poly ‘marriage’ can also be next.
Sorry, but no. We are not poly, so I have no horse in that race either. Poly and swinging are cousins, to be sure, but they’re not the same thing.
I’m vested because I believe in human rights, dignity, respect, and individual liberty.
Do you personally want the institution of marriage to be destroyed, and to see that happen in your lifetime?
One compromise that I personally would have no problem with is to leave ‘marriage’ as strictly a religious ceremony, with no legal standing or meaning whatsoever, and establishing domestic partnerships to cover the legal angle, open to all. If that meets your definition of ‘destroying marriage’, I suppose the answer is yes, otherwise no. I’m quite happy with my marriage, thank you.
