Someone PLEASE explain to me the Bush opposition to gay marriage...

[PinkTiger]

And why more people haven't pointed out the obvious:
1. That saying marriage is a sacred religious covenant between a man and a woman and
2. Wanting a constitutional amendment stating such, is
3. Tantamount to government sanction of religion.

I thought the whole idea was to keep religion out of government and government out of religion.

Why am I confused????

Why aren't more people upset about this????

It seems the radical right would pounce on this as an erosion of their rights to separation of church and state, unless they are willing accept a government mandated religion. And if we had one, what would it be? Fundamentalist Christian? Is there one church that embodies everything Bushco wants?

I'm sick about this and the lack of reasonable argument against it. Why isn't somebody pointing out that the emperor has no clothes and that this amendment would be considered "unconstitututional"??

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. many of us were upset about this

i mean we still are...but the gay marriage thing has died down a little over the last few weeks which is probably why you dont see postings about it constantly

[mr_hat]

2. He's just throwing a bone to the fundies.

[raysr]

6. It's ALL about the Fundies

Without their support, dug in in all phases of the adminstration and in every corner of every state how far do you think this POS could get with his lies? He'll do anything they want, keep them immune from his "policies" and futher allow them to worm their way into the judicial system to suit "God's Will". Can you say "Dominionist"?

[ithacan]

14. But it's the fundies who are controlling the show!

The religious right has basically taken over the GOP, check out this site for all the details:

http://www.TheocracyWatch.org/

The entire GOP congressional leadership get 100% on the Christian Coalition scorecard.

This is much more than "throwing a bone" to them. They are DEMANDING this, and they control the party.

[Nikia]

3. Especially since several religions think gay marriage is alright

Government is supposed to stay out of religion, but even if it stated that it was going along with a universally believed religious doctorine, they would still be wrong. Several religions, including Christian denominations are not against gay marriage. They perform gay committment ceremonies all the time. Obviously, there is some disagreement on the issue religiously, thus by prohibiting gay marriage on the basis of religion shows favoritism to some religions over others who would be happy to marry same sex partners.

[slor]

4. With Iraq on the verge of collapse...

you probably will not hear much about that "issue" any longer.

[ezee]

5. Separation of church and state

is one of the problems in this amendment, among many others.
Andrew Sullivan, who is a log cabin repub,and also gay has a blog entitled Andrew Sullivan.com . He has a few many good essays on this subject. Though he is a repuke, he is very intelligent and makes some very pointed a arguments AGAINST the marriage amendment. And BTW is VERY PISSED at bush co for this. Check it out.

[demigoddess]

7. fundie christians believe that

homosexuality is wrong and will bring down the wrath of god upon our 'christian nation' thereby removing his divine protection and we will end up as a godless socialist country and the christians living here will go to hell; therefore we must become a 'christian nation' even if it destroys the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. God trumps everything for these people.

[raysr]

10. So what's your point

Godless Socialist is OK wit me.

[DIKB]

8. throwing em a bone

Pure and simple, no way this will EVER pass. Too many rational people, and even some traditional conservatives who won't touch it with a ten foot pole. It's a publicity stunt pure and simple, keeping the fundie vote.

[madrchsod]

9. follow the money..it`s all about

power and money,nothing else. bush could give a shit less about anyone other than himself. he`s used these people to suck as much money from them as he can and the power behind him uses religious intolerance to further their assault on the freedoms of the people. this will go on untill the middle class in this country say-"we`re mad as hell and we`re not going to take it anymore"-but don`t hold your breath....

[LeahMira]

11. Some don't see it as a religious issue...

I'm sick about this and the lack of reasonable argument against it. Why isn't somebody pointing out that the emperor has no clothes and that this amendment would be considered "unconstitututional"??

Well, at one point the Constitution defended the idea that non-whites were only three-fifths of a person. I suppose it was some "activist judge" who "interpreted" the law differently from what was written down in black and white that put the skids on that idea, eh?

As I understand it, though, the fundamentalists don't see homosexual marriage as a strictly religious issue. They claim that every society, whether Christian, Buddhist, or Rastafarian, has recognized marriage as a union of a man and a woman. Because of this, they feel that the issue is not religious so much as perhaps sociological. Certainly their religious beliefs buttress that idea, but they don't see it as something that is specific to Christian morals and mores.

As I see it, there would be several ways of approaching the idea of homosexual marriages and getting around the religious aspect. The Massachusetts proposal that someone mentioned here yesterday is one way of doing this... by simply extending the right to establish a household to any two people who wish to do that.

[Iceburg]

12. Its simply a diversion from the war in iraq, and domestic ecomomics

Don't lose focus America.

[SemperEadem]

13. those that are for this marriage amendment

do not consider the ramification of their actions beyond the immediate. They don't see that by backing this gay marriage ban attached to the constitution, they are setting up their own demise. This amendment sets up the destruction of freedom of religion.

What flavor of Christianity will ultimately be tolerated in this country? Will Southern Baptist have to convert to Apostolic Pentacostal fundamentalism in order to be able to work or buy a home? Will discrimination based upon religious beliefs now be the norm in this country? Will Catholics have a deja vu moment, recollecting the Wars of Religion in France and England during the 15th-19th centuries? What of pagans, wiccans and other earth-based religions--will we bring back burning at the stake for heretics? Those who don't have the same religious affiliation as the president will be guilty of heresy?

Where will the lines be drawn and on whose side will the country gravitate? This will be the fault of christian fundamentalists and their rapacious desire to be "amongst those in the world" instead of doing as their bible says and "setting themselves apart from the world". Hypocrits.