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The End is Nigh
The California Supreme Court has struck down the law defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Just another case of an unelected body thwarting the will of the people? Not exactly. In California, the Supreme Court justices serve at the approval and pleasure of the electorate.
In the coming days I’m sure opponents of gay marriage will be making hand wringing speeches about the demise of the family, and I’m doubly sure that they won’t say just how that will come about. That’s because the family thing is a bald-faced lie cooked up by people who oppose gay marriage on religious grounds but are frustrated by the first amendment which says the government can’t enforce religious law.
The irony in all this is that they don’t seem to be able to understand the distinction between civil and religious unions. The amendment that forbids the government from enforcing religious law also forbids it from thwarting it in most cases. The government can’t force churches to sanction unions they object to. The California Supreme Court said as much in its decision.
Will the Republicans use the decision to galvanize religious conservatives to get out and vote? Maybe, but don’t count on it. They've learned that when they do, they’re casting a broad net. They used the gay marriage issue to try to save George Allen’s Senate seat, and they got a lot of people out to vote for the gay marriage ban who also voted for their favorite Democrat, Jim Webb. Had they stayed home, Allen, who lost by a hair would likely still be Senator Allen.
So, is this the beginning of the end? Will God now visit us with Sodom/Gomorrah style punishment? I can’t speak for Him, but let us note that the people of those biblical cities were rapists, not people wishing live and let live.
I say relax and be nice for no good reason other than to make life better for yourself. In my lifetime as we’ve become a more tolerant, forgiving and less bigoted people, we’ve prospered, living longer, better, richer.
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