Virginia Marriage Amendment

If two people have an authentic and mutual and deep and abiding genuine love for each other, such that they wish to commit to each other and care and love each other “until death do they part”. Then that is wonderful and welcomed and sanctified by the church and afforded special rights and benefits by the state.

Unless those two individuals happen to be of the same sex.

This is a subject that intelligent and fair and thoughtful, and even good people of faith, are wrestling with in many western countries. And in some, civil unions and same sex marriage has been adopted – for example, countries in Europe, Canada, and in Massachusetts in our country.

Good and reasonable, even deeply religious people, are divided on this. There are good and reasonable and deeply religious people who can and do fall on both sides of this issue.

This, in a way, is a confluence of several very basic and deeply held feelings – the idea that although individuals are inherently different, that they are to be treated equally; that individuals have reasonable rights to live their lives without interference by others’ religious beliefs; that there are long held community traditions about marriage; that the desire to be bonded together in a loving mutually committed relationship is a characteristic of being human.

And perhaps overlying all of this is that in recent times there is a new realization and new information about sexuality.

With this in mind, can we ask each other how appropriate is it to decide now, in the midst of this flux, and emerging understanding, to make such a long standing and fundamentally basic change to our agreement among one another – our Bill of Rights?

I have asked this many times and I ask it again now. Try and compose an explanation in the simplest and clearest of language, such that it could easily be communicated to the average Virginia high school student who will be living under this community policy, just why is this amendment so important now and what common good will it produce for Virginia?

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