Reply #43: Sorry, don't buy it friend [View All]

[MadHound]

First of all, is it worth our selling our collective soul in order to get a few million votes? Secondly, while we might pick up some moderate votes buy doing such, we will probably lose more than we gain, liberal pro choice women and men will flee the party and go Green over that very issue alone.

What we have to address is this issue of morality head on. Whose morals are we talking about? Christians? Muslims? Pagans? Whose? We are a country that is based on seperation of church and state, it is a bedrock belief, built into our Constitution. Abortion isn't murder(though some believe so), it isn't infanticide(though some believe so), it IS a medical procedure, a relatively simple one. And like any other medical procedure, it is the womans' choice on whether or not she wishes to have it performed. The hitch in this comes when we start allowing Christian and other fundementalists start defining that it is the taking of a life. When life begins is a tricky question, precisely because it is a moral/religious question. But this is a country founded on the basis of seperation of church and state, thus such moral/religious questions must be left up to the people to decide on their own, and on their own beliefs. The state shouldn't intefere. It is much like masturbation. Many people belief that one shouldn't masturbate, because you are flushing little half lives down the toilet when you do so. But that is a personal, moral/religious decision to make, and the state shouldn't be involved. Why should one religious sect's(fundelmentallist Christian) set of morals hold sway over all others? It shouldn't, and that is why the concept of keeping church and state seperate was built into the Constitution. You don't want an abortion, fine, don't have one. But do not try to impose your religious beliefs on me, for I do not belief in the same code of morals as you do.

This same logic applies to gay marriage. What, in the eyes of the state, is marriage? It is a contract between two people, one that deals with joint property, custody of children, power of attorney, etc. You and I can go out right now and write up a million contracts just like it, whether were the same sex or not, and they would all be perfectly fine in the eyes of the law. Yet when religion gets mixed into the mess, that is when problems start. Many religions state that two people of the same sex can't get married. That's fine if you follow that particular religion. However, due to seperation of church and state, you should not be able to impose your version of fundementalist Christianity upon me in matters of making up a simple contract with somebody that I am romantically involved with. That breaches the seperation of church and state.

This is the battle that we are faced with, the preservation of this country's basic bedrock belief in the seperation of church and state. This is what is meant when the pundits, the politicians, the religious right speaks of "morals". It means that they want to impose their version of fundementalist Christianity upon our country, in complete violation of the basic Constitutional duty to keep seperate church and state. They have already severely eroded that wall, and now they are looking to finish the job. If you give in on this friend, it won't just be abortion, or gay marriage that these people will want banned. Then they will go after the whole slate of "immoral activities" as spelled out by their fundy religious sect, things like banning dancing, drinking, card playing, gambling, women in the work place, and on and on. Are you willing to give those up also, simply to get their votes? If so friend, why not just chuck it all in and simply join up with these people? The rest of us would rather keep a secular, non-theocratic state.