Should California Pass Prop 8?

Recommend (3) Comments (1)

But this has nothing to do with tolerance by religious faiths for homosexuals.  That’s what those who are pushing for gay marriage want you to believe, but it isn’t so. 

If gay marriage becomes the law of the land, religious institutions and individuals will be under legal attack for their principled beliefs.  

Synagogues, churches, mosques and parochial schools, camps, youth programs and non profits serving seniors, the poor, immigrants, the unemployed and those with medical and health needs will be denied government funding and government services. They will find it hard, possibly impossible, to use state owned facilities. And they will be under pressure by force of law to allow gay families equal access on equal grounds to their programs and services.

That would be an unacceptable breach in the separation of church and state.  Let's be clear: everyone admits that clergy will not be required to perform marriage ceremonies they deem out of sync with their faith doctrine.

Such is not what we worry about.

What we worry about, to those who would tell us, we are being hyperbolic or creating fantasies that would never come to pass, it's already happening.  Let's look at what already has occurred:

* Universally acknowledged as the best adoption agency in the entire state, Boston Catholic Charities was forced by court order to either comply with state law and offer placements into same sex families or shut down. Rather than violate their religious principles, they closed their doors. That is not a victory for gay rights; it is a loss to thousands of orphans and children in need and to families looking to adopt.

* the Boy Scouts were evicted from a federal building in Philadelphia - incidentally, their longest running lease of any office in America - because their policy on gay scoutmasters conflicted with Federal policy. 

* a Methodist Church in New Jersey is now being sued under the state's Laws Against Discrimination for its refusal to rent its gazebo on the Jersey shore for same sex ceremonies.

If gay marriage is the law of the land, how long before a synagogue is sued for refusal to provide family membership to a gay family; how long before a Catholic school is sued for not admitting a child of gay couples; how long before an imam is sued for a sermon decrying homosexuality; how long before parochial school curriculum is challenged?

What this is about for us and others who side with us, is the targeted legal attacks on religious institutions and others who have a sincere belief about homosexuality. 

Our bottom line is that those who demand tolerance must show tolerance in return.