There are two problems with your reply.
First, how does "forcing you to live with homosexuals marrying" affect your personal morals in any way? Does it force you to believe that homosexuality is moral? Does it force you to marry someone of the same sex? How does it change your personal morals whatsoever? If the answer is "They don't", then I am not forcing any moral position on you.
How does it affect your personal morals to say marriage is between a man and woman? Forcing me to accept gay marriage affects the society I have to live in. I don't want an amoral society or the problems that comes with one.
Wrong. Saying, "marriage is between a man and woman"
only, prevents me from having the personal liberty to marry the person whom I love, and choose to spend the rest of my life with. Not allowing you to tell other people who that cannot marry, on the other hand, affects no one. Your "society" is nothing more than a collection of
individuals. Besides you didn't say that i was forcing The only "problems" that come with an amoral society is that you do not get to make rules for anyone based on your personal moralistic views. Fortunately, for the rest of us, we have the Constitution to prevent you from creating your Theocratic Utopia. Hate it for ya.
Second, I absolutely believe in moral boundaries; those boundaries end at your front door.
But you've already stated that you don't believe in moral boundaries, or at least, you don't believe we have the right to dictate those to others through law. Marriage has nothing to do with your front door. No one is banning homosexual relationships behind closed doors... if that ever happens, let me know, I'll be on your side.
Marriage has
everything to do with my front door, with my personal life, with my partner. Allow me to list for you the many ways that Marriage
affects my family, and are within my front door:
Tax Benefits
- Filing joint income tax returns with the IRS and state taxing authorities.
- Creating a "family partnership" under federal tax laws, which allows you to divide business income among family members.
Estate Planning Benefits
- Inheriting a share of your spouse's estate.
- Receiving an exemption from both estate taxes and gift taxes for all property you give or leave to your spouse.
- Creating life estate trusts that are restricted to married couples, including QTIP trusts, QDOT trusts, and marital deduction trusts.
- Obtaining priority if a conservator needs to be appointed for your spouse -- that is, someone to make financial and/or medical decisions on your spouse's behalf.
Government Benefits
- Receiving Social Security, Medicare, and disability benefits for spouses.
- Receiving veterans' and military benefits for spouses, such as those for education, medical care, or special loans.
- Receiving public assistance benefits.
Employment Benefits
- Obtaining insurance benefits through a spouse's employer.
- Taking family leave to care for your spouse during an illness.
- Receiving wages, workers' compensation, and retirement plan benefits for a deceased spouse.
- Taking bereavement leave if your spouse or one of your spouse's close relatives dies.
Medical Benefits
- Visiting your spouse in a hospital intensive care unit or during restricted visiting hours in other parts of a medical facility.
- Making medical decisions for your spouse if he or she becomes incapacitated and unable to express wishes for treatment.
Death Benefits
- Consenting to after-death examinations and procedures.
- Making burial or other final arrangements.
Family Benefits
- Filing for stepparent or joint adoption.
- Applying for joint foster care rights.
- Receiving equitable division of property if you divorce.
- Receiving spousal or child support, child custody, and visitation if you divorce.
Housing Benefits
- Living in neighborhoods zoned for "families only."
- Automatically renewing leases signed by your spouse.
Consumer Benefits
- Receiving family rates for health, homeowners', auto, and other types of insurance.
- Receiving tuition discounts and permission to use school facilities.
- Other consumer discounts and incentives offered only to married couples or families.
Other Legal Benefits and Protections
- Suing a third person for wrongful death of your spouse and loss of consortium (loss of intimacy).
- Suing a third person for offenses that interfere with the success of your marriage, such as alienation of affection and criminal conversation (these laws are available in only a few states).
- Claiming the marital communications privilege, which means a court can't force you to disclose the contents of confidential communications between you and your spouse during your marriage.
- Receiving crime victims' recovery benefits if your spouse is the victim of a crime.
- Obtaining immigration and residency benefits for noncitizen spouse.
- Visiting rights in jails and other places where visitors are restricted to immediate family.
So, please do not insult my intelligence by suggesting to me that denying me the right to marry the person I love has nothing to do with my front door.
There is no "freedom from religion." Don't even know where to tell you to go find that... Religion is found in virtually every human society on the planet. What WE have is "freedom OF religion." That means, my viewpoints are equally valid to yours, even if I am religious.
You know, I am so sick of this stupid defelction. You know perfectly well that the first amendment not only protects the right of every person to practice their
personal religion without interference from the government, but also protects every person
from being forced to live according to anyone else's religious moral code. That is "freedom from religion". It isn't a guarantee that you will never be
exposed to religious thought; only that you will never be coerced into practicing any religion, or behaving in accordance with any religion's moral code.
Nonsense. There is no "freedom from religion." Virtually every law we have is rooted in someone's religious moral code, there is no way to filter out religious morality and still have civil society. We have laws against theft and murder... that's someone's religious code you are being forced to abide. So you have a silly and ridiculous argument with no merit.
That is a logical fallacy. Simply because the same concepts are found in two different sources, you cannot presume that the one came about because of the other. The entire reason the framers of the Constitution added the first amendment, is because they foresaw religious zealots such as yourself attempting to do exactly what you just did, and
presume a religious source for
civil law.
Of course it is possible to separate religious morality from civil society. You do this simply by remembering the purpose of civil law - to protect
me from
you. That is not a religious, or even a moral purpose; it is a simple matter of self-preservation. Using your example, no one really thinks that murder is wrong. In fact, because man is a violant, vindictive, vicious creature, almost everyone can think of, at least, one, or two people that they are certain would make the world a better place, if they were just allowed to relieve those people of the need to breathe. However, everyone who is not mentally ill is rather fond of the practice of breathing themselves. Hence, I don't want
you killing
me. therefore, as a matter of self- preservation, we all agree that killing each other is not allowed, and that doing so will result in unpleasant consequences for anyone violating that rule we all agreed to. No great moral code here, just simple self-preservation. The same is true of every universal civil rule, whether it be theft, or assault, or any thing else. The very simple principle - which carries absolutely no morality at all - is protecting
me from
you.
The only reason anyone ever bothered trying to justify these rules with a religious code is because in addition to being violent, vindictive, and vicious, man is also superstitious. As such, the clever ones who wanted power realized that the easiest way to justify their edicts was to wrap them in superstition. You see, there is no reason at all for you to abide by anything
I say . However, when I am able to convince you that
"God" said it, wellll...suddenly these edicts of mine are incontestable. After all, they were of divine origin!!!
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, some of you decided that not only was it your responsibility to protect me from
you, but it was your responsibility to protect me
from myself. Guess what? Not only is that
not your responsibility; it is not even your prerogative, and every time you pass some stupid morality law, all you manage to do is violate the individual liberties of the very people you think you are protecting.
Please do us all a favor. Quit trying to protect us, and mind your own ******* business. We are not children, and we do not need you to make our decisions for us.
You see, we have the inalienable right to self govern. This means, we have the right to establish laws, which are essentially "restrictions on liberty" within the confines of free civil society. Most of those parameters are derived (at some point) through morality generally found in religious teaching. But even if they weren't, we still have the inalienable freedom of religion, so we can also establish laws which are outright religiously-based, if that's what "the people" want.
Yes, we do. However those laws must conform to the liberties enumerated in the Constitution. We do not have unlimited freedom to pass any laws we see fit.
Sorry, but the only thing "enumerated" in the Constitution are the powers enumerated to government. We are endowed inalienable rights. We have the right to self-govern, meaning we have the right to establish the boundaries of our liberties as a society.
Really? So the Bill of Rights is not a list of rights guaranteed to
the people? The 14th amendment is not a guarantee to the
people? You're full of shit, and you know it. There are a number of rights guaranteed
to every citizen of the United States. Your right to "self-govern", ends exactly there -
self. You do not have the unlimited right to pass any law that you see fit, and expect that law to be enforced, simply by virtue of the fact that it was enacted by majority rule. I guarantee you will not find
that in the Constitution.
Again, the only thing "enumerated" in the Constitution are the powers of government. Our freedom is unlimited, we simply decide on the boundaries of that freedom through a democratic process. That is self-government. The Bill of Rights is a list of inalienable rights the government can't impinge, or at least, aren't supposed to have the power to.
And you are correct, I don't have the right to pass any law I see fit and expect that law to be enforced. However, I DO have the right to petition for redress and lobby for any law I want to be passed, and if a large enough contingent agrees with me, such law can be passed. There is no restrictions on that, anything we please as a collective society can be made law of the land.
No, you don't. Actually, yes...yes you do. All you have to do is, first, vote to get rid of the Constitution, and the constraints that the Constitution puts on you, and your compatriots, in terms of passing laws. however, so long as you wish to be part of the
United States, you have no choice but to accept those constraints. Which means that you do not get to pass laws that infringe on the rights of others, no matter how much you would like to.
Now, the difference in you and I is, I understand we are part of a collective society who also have a voice, and sometimes we may have to live with something we personally don't agree with because that's what our fellow citizens want to do. You seem to not grasp that concept and think that you can use government or courts to force society to accept what you want, even if they don't want it.
Really? Because you seem awfully willing to force everyone to conform to your views on what makes a marriage, and on the "morality" of homosexuality. It would seem to me that the people who understand that "have to live with something we personally don't agree with because that's what our fellow citizens want to do," are the ones who, while they themselves, are uncomfortable with the idea of homosexuality, are in favor of letting everyony -
including homosexuals - enjoy all of the rights, and liberties of everyone else.
Go ahead. Tell me again about how it should not be allowed because of its "immorality", while still pretending to believe in liberty...
You seem to be confused here... you have said you want to make it law of the land that homosexuals can marry. I have advocated for civil unions and removing government from the position of dictating what marriage means to the individual.... Which one of us is trying to impose their moral view on the other???
That entirely depends. When you say that you advocate "civil unions", do you mean that you support this for homosexuals, or for
everyone. So long as you support that for everyone, and you support relegating the "Marriage Certificate" to the same realm as the "Certificate of Baptism", and the "Certificate of Confirmation" - that is to say, a useless piece of paper, that has no meaning to anyone other than the Church that issued it, and has no value in civil government whatsoever - then sure, I am in full agreement with you. However, good luck getting the religious to agree with
that. On the other hand, if you are suggesting that straights should get to have their "marriages" recognized by the state, while the Gays have to make due with "civil unions", then sorry. That is not equality.
Liberty-shmiberty! This is NOT about LIBERTY! There is no place on this planet or in this universe, where everybody gets to just do as they goddam-well-please! Every law, rule, code of the most rudimentary human tribe, is some kind of restraint, restriction or limitation of some form of "liberty" in some way. We do not have the "liberty" to run around naked hurling our shit at each other. It's just the way it is! In a civil society, freedoms and liberties are restricted and limited. In OUR society, we have the constitutional right to establish those boundaries.
I believe in liberty more than you! You want a court or government to mandate Gay Marriage. Period! That is what you want, and nothing less will do. I am opposed to government mandating anything! I want THE PEOPLE to have that liberty on their own, without government involved. Why is government getting to tell us what the hell "marriage" is? Why can't individuals have the liberty to decide that for themselves?
Bullshit. You obviously still have no understanding of the concepts of either "Liberty", or the "Law". The entire purpose of the Law is to protect
me from
you. Nothing more, nothing less. "Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins." That applies not only to the limitation of
my actions, but also to the limitation of your right to
limit my action. If I am not doing
you demonstrable harm, then any attempt from you to limit my behavior is a violation of my individual liberty.
Sorry but there are numerous laws which limit your actions regardless of whether or not you find harm in those actions. The purpose of law is to establish civil society. My right is the right to self-govern in a free democratic society where the government has enumerated power and my liberty is limited only by the laws the self-governing people have established.
You're tight. The purpose of law is to establish a
civil society- not a "moral" one, but a
civil one.
That is
not your right. Your right to self-govern ends at
my right to self determination. This is why
our society included a list of recognized rights that you are not
allowed to violate with those laws that you wish to enact.
Now, if you don't like those restrictions, by all means, leave. Find a country, or create a country, that does not put those restrictions on your right of "self-governance".
What YOU want is a Fascist state, where your cronies in government can dictate how I live and what liberties I can have. You think that because your liberal movement has made some headway in the past couple of decades, this is a safe bet. You're willing to blindly turn your liberty over to government because you view government as the defender of liberal issues. You're fine with government mandating our liberty because right now, government is your friend. If the tables were ever turned, you'd literally be having a cow in the streets while standing on one ear. You're fine with a Fascist liberal state, you'd be totally opposed to a Fascist conservative or religious state.
That's laughable!
I'm the one insisting that you do not get to use the government to tell people how they get to live, and you accuse
me of being the fascist. That stupid ad hominem is not even worthy of a response.
Moving on...