Secular argument against gay marriage

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To be clear, some people are misdiagnosed as infertile, this does not mean that ALL infertile people are actually fertile.
You are responding to a point that no one has made. It’s probably best to stick to points that people have actually made.
 
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Take your pick, CW. You can’t have it both ways.

Either the analogous senior citizens baseball team, like an infertile couple, have a possibility of winning/getting pregnant…in which case this illustrates why infertile couples’ unions are moral…

OR!

The senior citizens baseball team, like an infertile couple, will admittedly never achieve the natural end of their activity, yet we see how their play is still ordered towards this end…in which case this illustrates why infertile couples’ unions are moral.

Which is your position? 😃
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Er, I think you need to read my posts more carefully. My position is that your analogy fails. In order for it to work you will need to show that either:

a). It is physically impossible for the seniors team to win the game. Not just unlikely etc.

b). All infertile people can actually have children even if they do not have testes etc.

If you cannot show either of those then your analogy fails because the two situations are not analogous.
 
This is, again, quite inconsistent of you. You argue below that what is important is not the letter of the law but its intent, yet above you claim it is about the “vows” or contract which is nothing more than the letter of the law (recall your argument from Spanish civil law: it is what the law says that is important) all the while denying the purpose of marriage is to bring new human life into existence. If it really is about purpose, how can you possibly deny that the ultimate purpose behind the physical union of two complimentary human genders is to be the loving means by which new human beings come into existence?
Not often I see anyone trying to conflate morality with the law of the land. :eek:

Obviously a civil code needs to be legalistic, it’s a legal document.

But after promising your partner to love and cherish her till death parts you, if you then bed someone else it will do you no good to point out that legally you never promised not to, you’ll still break her heart.

This is where these attempts to redefine marriage end up - in baby factories or prenuptial contracts rather than celebrating what is perhaps the deepest relationship two people can ever have.
Interesting how you are arguing purpose above and yet deny design in the universe. How can we understand purpose without understanding the intended purpose for which things are designed?
Discussion of evolution is banned.
Loving others means to love them through the proper exercise of human faculties which entails understanding of the proper purpose of human faculties.
Wow, you make everything so complicated. We can’t love our children without an “understanding of the proper purpose of human faculties”?

Is a child not even allowed to love her pet dog without first taking a course in understanding the proper purpose of human faculties?
 
???

Er, I think you need to read my posts more carefully. My position is that your analogy fails. In order for it to work you will need to show that either:

a). It is physically impossible for the seniors team to win the game. Not just unlikely etc.

b). All infertile people can actually have children even if they do not have testes etc.

If you cannot show either of those then your analogy fails because the two situations are not analogous.
You are trying to exploit the fact that no analogy is perfect. You continue to poke at these analogies until you convince yourself they are too weak, with the hope that they will lose their purpose. (Your response to the “gum chewing” analogy was nonsensical: “ah-ha, so Catholics believe gum chewing is immoral!”).

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You’re not much of a fan of free-will then.
So God doesn’t act through human agents?

Tell me, is it God who comes down from Heaven Himself to preach at your church every Sunday, or is it your pastor?
 
You are trying to exploit the fact that no analogy is perfect. You continue to poke at these analogies until you convince yourself they are too weak, with the hope that they will lose their purpose.
If two situations used in an analogy are not in fact analogous (as I have shown above) then the analogy fails. This is called the “fallacy of the false analogy”.
(Your response to the “gum chewing” analogy was nonsensical: “ah-ha, so Catholics believe gum chewing is immoral!”).
???

I have shown the the same logic used to reach the conclusion that homosexuality is immoral also reaches the conclusion that chewing gum is immoral. Thus far nobody has identified any errors in the logic there.

If there is one why don’t you point it out and we can discuss?
 
If two situations used in an analogy are not in fact analogous (as I have shown above) then the analogy fails. This is called the “fallacy of the false analogy”.

???

I have shown the the same logic used to reach the conclusion that homosexuality is immoral also reaches the conclusion that chewing gum is immoral. Thus far nobody has identified any errors in the logic there.

If there is one why don’t you point it out and we can discuss?
Who, exactly, have you “shown”? The mouse in your pocket? 😉
 


If there is one why don’t you point it out and we can discuss?
As I’ve already pointed out, you confuse function with purpose, and I’ve become bored with trying to help you understand the difference…
 
Research Pertinent to the Boy Scouts of America Policy Change Debate

A National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality White Paper

Michelle Cretella, M.D. and David C. Pruden, M.S.

The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is a professional, scientific organization that offers therapeutic assistance to those who struggle with unwanted homosexuality. As an organization, NARTH disseminates educational information, conducts and collects scientific research, promotes effective therapeutic treatment, and provides referrals to those who seek our assistance.

In keeping with NARTH’s commitment to science and education, NARTH offers the following synopsis of scientific research on homosexuality that may be helpful to the national council of the Boy Scouts of America as it deliberates a change in policy that would allow homosexually-identified youth as members.[1]

****The development of homosexuality is influenced by environment. ****

.

Homosexuality is not an unchangeable biologically determined trait like race. The American Psychological Association reports, “There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles…”[2]
The environment, including family dynamics, peer interactions and other social factors, can contribute significantly to the formation of one’s sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is not fixed at birth but rather is environmentally influenced and unfolds slowly across childhood, adolescence and even into adulthood for some individuals.[3]

more…
 
So God doesn’t act through human agents?

Tell me, is it God who comes down from Heaven Himself to preach at your church every Sunday, or is it your pastor?
If you look back, the actual claim was first that only God ought to mete out justice (post #908) and then that this doesn’t preclude God acting through “properly ordained human instruments” (post #976). The claim is therefore that those “properly ordained human instruments” being acted upon by God rather than their own free will, which is what might be called a novel theology - there’s a difference between saying someone is inspired by God and saying someone is God’s robot.

Interesting as these excursions might be, they remain off-topic.
 
As I’ve already pointed out, you confuse function with purpose, and I’ve become bored with trying to help you understand the difference…
And as you yourself showed, chewing gum fails both the “purpose” and the “function” of the act of chewing (as you described them). So the argument still holds.

If you believe there is a genuine failing in the argument then by all means identify it. But don’t claim that the argument fails without giving a reason, that is just futile.
 
And as you yourself showed, chewing gum fails both the “purpose” and the “function” of the act of chewing (as you described them). So the argument still holds.

If you believe there is a genuine failing in the argument then by all means identify it. But don’t claim that the argument fails without giving a reason, that is just futile.
Please refer to post 953.
 
Again, not relevant. I am just checking that by Catholic use of the term chewing gum is disordered and immoral. Thus far it appears to be.
There is nothing wrong with chewing gum. In any event, why is this analogy relevant to the subject of this thread?

Also, just because a Catholic makes a proposition, doesn’t necessarily make the proposition “a Catholic belief”. Read the Catholic Catechism and its references to understand the teaching.

**Catholic teaching cannot be had on the back of a bubble gum wrapper. **
That should be overtly obvious.
 
…that is the post where you showed that chewing gum fails both the “purpose” and the “function” of the act of chewing (as you described them).
Nope. Read it again. Then fill in the blanks:

The purpose of chewing food is _______________.

The function of chewing is ______________.
 
There is nothing wrong with chewing gum. In any event, why is this analogy relevant to the subject of this thread?
It isn’t an analogy, it’s simply applying a logical argument (one which is used to argue that homosexuality is disordered and as such immoral) to a different act.

It’s relevance is that arguments were raised that homosexual sex is disordered and thus immoral. So I am exploring that argument.
Also, just because a Catholic makes a proposition, doesn’t necessarily make the proposition “a Catholic belief”. Read the Catholic Catechism and its references to understand the teaching.
I’m trying to understand the way Catholics on this forum understand / use the term “disordered”. Thus far it appears that both homosexual sex and chewing gum are “disordered”.
**Catholic teaching cannot be had on the back of a bubble gum wrapper. **
That should be overtly obvious.
Who said anything to the contrary?
 
Nope. Read it again. Then fill in the blanks:

The purpose of chewing food is _______________.

The function of chewing is ______________.
This is rather silly, you already wrote those things. Here I’ll quote it for you.
The purpose of chewing food is to obtain sustenance.

The function of chewing is to break down food.

Does that make sense?
There, see?

It’s a pretty dodgy definition to be honest as the former is so vague as to be more or less worthless.

But even so the logic still holds because chewing gum (obviously) neither obtains sustenance nor breaks down food. Therefore chewing fails both the purpose and the function of chewing. Thus following the previous logic it is disordered and immoral.
 
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