My sister sent me an article by David Kupelian from a popular evangelical news site [you can Google it if you like]. It was an "Open Letter to Conservatives" regarding the issue of Same-Sex Marriage. Many self-proclaimed, so-called erudite readers and thinkers would reject any article written by editor-writer David Kupelian purely on the basis of their own biases and preconceived notions. Notwithstanding their self-imposed obstacles to knowledge, I believe many would gain understanding, put aside some of their own intolerance, and learn a lot in the process. I thought the article well worthy of my consideration.
My sister is a courageous woman. She is a lobbyist for traditional marriage in a large metropolitan area. She opposes the Same-Sex Marriage movement. She has become a target for the opposing activists' purely mean and ugly actions in return. It is truly ironic that those who would claim to propose Same-Sex Marriage as a Civil Right would be so angry and spiteful, and in fact, step on the Civil Rights of those who oppose their point of view. This is certainly not emulating the model of Gandhi or King on their part. Is it because the logic of their premises and arguments do not measure up that they resort to such tactics? Perhaps so. Her home has been vandalized, her family harassed, and she has been threatened by groups trying to intimidate her into silence. She suffers their abuses, but, it is she who is called a "hater" by them and their sympathetic media. This is the uglier and seamier side of this so-called debate that never seems to make it to the news. All of this sound more like the actions of some Brown Shirts rather than a Civil Rights movement.
I believe that there is a huge blind spot on many issues surrounding Same-Sex Marriage. If this comes to pass, where does the definition of marriage stop? What about Polygamy? What about marrying one's First Cousin. Shall a Son marry his widowed Mother? May a Daughter marry her widower Father, or her divorced Father? Shall Teachers marry their Child-students? Why not consider all of these other forms of "Marriage?" I recently read where a nine year old girl was legally married to an eighty year old man in the Middle East. It is a not un-common occurrence there. But, just because something is legal, does not necessarily make it right. Morality should always precede the law.
I am dismayed at the lack of understanding of our Western Civilization and efforts to preserve it. It is under attack, being destroyed piecemeal and in detail by "boring Progressive termites" [as Kupelian refers to them]. There is overall wide apathy in society, and a failure to understand the difference between Conservative and Libertarian. There is also a failure to stand by one's beliefs for fear of being called names like "bigot," and "hater," or worse. The name-callers confuse their emotionalism for true reason, intellect and morality. Most of the present ignorance stems, in my opinion, from a hole in our formal education regarding the historical, philosophical, and religious underpinnings of Western Civilization. Indeed, many Progressives are hell-bent to bury Western Civilization and its foundations the same way the Scipio Africanus burned, buried, and salted Carthage.
I regret that more than a few in fashionable society [young and old] chooses to treat me, or other like-thinkers, as they would the Taliban or some other anti-homosexual zealot. They do so because I oppose the destruction of marriage as a Godly covenant solely between one man and one woman for the purpose of family. But, I neither stone homosexuals [or other minorities] to death, nor do I cut off the noses and ears of the unfaithful. I treat women with respect as I do all men, homosexual or not. I have lost friends to AIDS, and I pray for those who struggle with their identity. I am simply opposed to this "red herring" proposal. So why all the venom towards us Conservatives?
I suppose this Gay-Marriage Movement is a natural consequence for America. It's our own fault. We Americans have, for a century, degraded marriage into some extended form of "going steady" with kids only as optional or affordable vanities. Look at the "unintended" consequences this alone has caused in the proliferation of Single-Parenting, Foster Children, Group Homes, and Dead-beat Parents [it's not just for Dads anymore]. Materialism and banishment of religion from the public square has surely played a role, as have 100 years of activist interpretations of our Constitution. All the while, Conservatives have sat and watched. I would suggest that we self-educate, do the homework on this subject and learn to pick our way through the bluster, the biases and the propaganda. There is a lot to read, much of it right under our noses, online.
Ozzie & Harriet, Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, The Donna Reed Show... these old family TV shows are held up to ridicule as totally divorced from real America. Why? Because they were unreal? Because they provided idealized glimpses of family life? Perhaps. Maybe we were never that way. But, we did see a family with a Mother and a Father working as a team to provide a good environment in which their children could grow up safely. What object lessons do we learn from The Simpsons, Family Guy, or Two and One-Half Men? Are we more like what we find in them? Do they provide better object lessons and role models for family life? Do we really want to be more like the latter than the former? Are we safer, happier and healthier now? ... Really?
The Judeo-Christian Tradition of Western Civilization holds that there are "Final Things" worthy of contemplation to guide our actions: Life, Death, Heaven, and Hell. God gives us a better way than trusting our own emotions. He gives us an Economy of Salvation. Conservatives have traditionally trusted this Economy [Note: There is a wide difference with Liberals and Libertarians on this issue]. For Conservatives, these are not issues of politics, fashion, passion, or emotionalism. These are contemplations of and preparations for eternity. As such, I grow weary of constant temporal assaults on eternal verities. They are assaults on the fabric of the American Society in which we all live. Where have these assaults finally brought us? I pondered what the "modern" Progressive Liberal theology of the last century has brought us: the Great Wars of the 20th Century, the Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Totalitarian Movements, the return of virulent anti-Semitism, the present Economic Collapse, Government Fiscal Irresponsibility, Personal Irresponsibility, Nuclear Proliferation, Terrorism, Drug Wars, Collapsing Western Democracies and Republics. Where have all of these so-called Liberal "freedoms" brought us? What have we gained? Should we wait on future generations to judge whether we lost our way in the 21st Century? I think not. I think we already know. Marriage, the cornerstone of civilization, is under final attack.
The enlightened followers of Progressivism are very close to replacing Western Civilization's great, solid Granite Cornerstone with a cheap, polished, Synthetic Composite.
Vote!
