Anderson Cooper is officially out of the closet, as if his "teabagger" comment didn't give us all a clue to where his mind was at. I didn't even know what the term meant until he brought it up. Then Jez came along and mentioned tromboning, and after investigating, I wished the subject had never come up.
So you're gay... So what?
I don't care how you have sex, but that is how some people choose to define themselves, forcing everyone around them to talk about it.
This will lead us inexorably towards discussions of church and state. At what point will a church's opposition to homosexuality become criminal?
I've been engaged in a slow rolling debate on homosexuality and religion with a woman on Google +. She's pleasant and well-reasoned, but pretty much believes that since churches are tax exempt organizations they have no right to speak, or engage in "electioneering," as she calls it.
I disagree. All Americans have the natural right to express opinions and attempt to influence lawmaking according to their beliefs. Churches have the right to do it just like myriad other interest groups do. We live in a representative republic.
Tolerance, not Reconciliation
She started her thread looking for a reconciliation between between the church and homosexuality. There will be no reconciliation. The two are fundamentally incompatible. What we need is good old fashioned American tolerance. We are a diverse agglomeration of people with conflicting beliefs, but in a free country where government does not dictate every last detail of society and human activity, it doesn't matter.
All we need is to respect one another's right to worship, live and believe however one wishes. If you're not denying another the enjoyments of their rights, you're good to go. Homosexuality doesn't violate my rights, and churches refusing to perform gay marriages violates no one's rights, since there is no fundamental right to force someone to perform your marriage ceremony.
The "reconciliation" I support is this: Leave legal partnerships to the state, and leave marriage to the church. Some churches will perform gay marriage, while others will not. This protects everyone's natural rights and respects our constitution's understanding of individual liberty and freedom of religion.
