02-28-2004, 01:46 AM
Hi Shadow. I agree with a lot of what you have to say here. My mother did not play the stay-at-home role for long, but then I had both of my grandmothers to care for me, and my cousin, and other church families, so that I was pretty old before I had to carry a key to school. The extended family was rooted to the township for generations, and a lot of it still is. That was a far cry from tribal support, but it was (and still is, providing I don't shut it out) quite beneficial. So if you hear me talk about the importance of family in friendlier threads than this one, I probably have much more in mind than mom, dad, and 2.1 kids.
The presence of two committed, loving and respectful parents (albeit of the same sex) is preferable to not having any role model at all for how to get along with one another.
I wouldn't necessarily disagree with this, although it causes pretty obvious problems within the context of religious upbringing. Such a couple might be more suitable for adoption than a single person. I'm not ready for the concept of family to reach this level of disintegration yet, however. I'm certainly not ready for my religion to promote this family structure as some kind of sacred ideal, and I'm not eager for the government to do so either.
Of course, since I donât believe that homosexuals are immoral it is much easier to have that opinion.
Your phrasing here is one that I think I have specifically avoided using, and would not want to be attributed with. If committing an immoral act labels a person as immoral, then we all carry that label. There are surely homosexuals who have less issues standing between them and heaven than I do. In terms of the company I keep, this issue is just not a big deal to me. It's in the same general league as the guy who has sex with his girlfriend and decides to let the whole world know, and I don't make a point of showing my disapproval in either case.
Yet I do disapprove, and so it could becomes a big deal if someone chooses to make it one by demanding approval. Trying to have a gay marriage at my church would obviously be such a case. Unfortunately, trying to establish such a marriage at the legal level within my jurisdiction is essentially the exact same case, cloaked in the veil of secularity. So yes, the moral issue is the hangup here and the social ramification which concerns the most is the acceptance of what I consider a sin as a virtue, rather than anything broader or deeper.
The presence of two committed, loving and respectful parents (albeit of the same sex) is preferable to not having any role model at all for how to get along with one another.
I wouldn't necessarily disagree with this, although it causes pretty obvious problems within the context of religious upbringing. Such a couple might be more suitable for adoption than a single person. I'm not ready for the concept of family to reach this level of disintegration yet, however. I'm certainly not ready for my religion to promote this family structure as some kind of sacred ideal, and I'm not eager for the government to do so either.
Of course, since I donât believe that homosexuals are immoral it is much easier to have that opinion.
Your phrasing here is one that I think I have specifically avoided using, and would not want to be attributed with. If committing an immoral act labels a person as immoral, then we all carry that label. There are surely homosexuals who have less issues standing between them and heaven than I do. In terms of the company I keep, this issue is just not a big deal to me. It's in the same general league as the guy who has sex with his girlfriend and decides to let the whole world know, and I don't make a point of showing my disapproval in either case.
Yet I do disapprove, and so it could becomes a big deal if someone chooses to make it one by demanding approval. Trying to have a gay marriage at my church would obviously be such a case. Unfortunately, trying to establish such a marriage at the legal level within my jurisdiction is essentially the exact same case, cloaked in the veil of secularity. So yes, the moral issue is the hangup here and the social ramification which concerns the most is the acceptance of what I consider a sin as a virtue, rather than anything broader or deeper.