Recently I expressed my computerized views on Facebook. Someone had made a posting congratulating President Obama for his courage in publically supporting same-sex marriages. I made a brief comment about also acknowledging the courage of those who oppose such unions. Later when I revisited the posting to see where the conversation was going, I found the response that I should not allow my Catholic Faith to cross the barrier that separates Church and State. Nor should I try to impose my beliefs on those who do not have the same religious perspective I do. I typed in that my view on same-sex marriage does not rest on my religious or faith beliefs. I believe my opposition to such unions is grounded on the truth of things, on reality, and I would therefore hold this view even if I were not Catholic, nor a priest.
Among many other comments on the posting was the opinion that the State had no right to step into the arena of marriage. That seemed true to me, and I “liked” it. A day later when I looked to see where the ongoing discussion had gone, I discovered that it was not there. Nothing was there. No record of all the pro and con comments on the topic of same sex marriages. I am not skilled in using the computer, and maybe I just could not find the posting because of my ineptness. I hope that is the case. I hope the topic is not such a hot potato that cannot be reasonably discussed online. I hate to think that the cliché “You can’t discuss Politics or Religion in public” might be proving true in this instance. There is nothing more important for a citizen of any country to be concerned about than Politics and Religion. Their relationship to one another is of supreme importance.
As an American exercising my civil rights, and concerned about my homeland, I want to state four truths I believe any person of any religion has a right to hold.
1. MARRIAGE PREDATES THE STATE. Men and women had to be having children in large numbers and for many generations before the State came into existence. That’s just the way it is.
2. THE NATURAL FAMILY IS THE BASIC UNIT OF SOCIETY. The individual is not the basic unit of society. If you believe differently, all you have to do is show me the individual who can reproduce by himself or herself without involving another. Again, this truth seems self evident to me, like “the shortest distance between two points is a straight line”.
3. The State has as its primary purpose and duty to protect the natural family and support its citizenry in building a civilization that enables the family to flourish.
4. A nation is as strong or as weak as its family life.
None of those four points is difficult to understand. The first two are so obvious I don’t know how anyone could deny them. Perhaps the last two would require more thought and discussion before acceptance, but I believe they follow as logical conclusions of one and two.
If civil discourse and a general consensus are not possible on at least the first two points, then all truly is lost. A good friend of mine believes our country has reached precisely this point where reason is dead, logic means nothing, common sense is nonsense, emoting has replaced thinking, and the divisions between us are so wide and multiple that mere civil discourse is an unattainable goal. In his opinion, as a nation, we are “coming apart”. Perhaps the next presidential election will show us how far along we are in that process, and if the coming apart is reversible or not.
