Thursday, May 15, 2008

Oligarchy Part 2

Now for my second post I would like to interact with Bidstrup’s quote of Anthony Kennedy and his reply. Kennedy is cited:

"We cannot accept the view that Amendment 2's prohibition on specific legal protections does no more than deprive homosexuals of special rights. To the contrary, the amendment imposes a special disability on those persons alone. Homosexuals are forbidden the safeguards that others enjoy or may seek without constraint"

-Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court in the decision overturning Colorado's Amendment 2 referendum

To which Bidstrup begins his article,

“Ask just about anyone. They'll all tell you they're in favor of equal rights for homosexuals. Just name the situation, and ask. They'll all say, yes, gays should have the same rights in housing, jobs, public accommodations, and should have equal access to government benefits, equal protection of the law, etcetera, etcetera.

Then you get to gay marriage.

And that's when all this talk of equality stops dead cold.

More than half of all people in the United States oppose gay marriage, even though three fourths are otherwise supportive of gay rights. This means that many of the same people who are even passionately in favor of gay rights oppose gays on this one issue.

Why all the passion?

It's because there is a lot of misunderstanding about what homosexuality really is, as well as the erroneous assumption that gay people enjoy the same civil rights protections as everyone else. There are also a lot of stereotypes about gay relationships, and even a great deal of misunderstanding of what marriage itself is all about and what its purpose is.”

Inconsistency is the sign of a failed argument. Bidstrup rightly sees it as most homosexual activists do. The problem with the Conservative argument is that we say we believe in equal rights. Then we say we believe homosexuals have these same equal rights. Then we say homosexuals may live privately in their homosexual lifestyle with the attitude of Seinfeld ("I don’t like homosexuality…not that there is anything wrong with that…"). Then the obvious response comes from the other side as we see in the above quotes.

Conservatives have granted a false premise and have allowed themselves to be shamed by the Politically Correct crowd. The “Drive-by Media” is obviously culpable as part of those who would mock the Christian world view. Movies and TV/Cable programs are also part of the problem. But I believe the main reason is that Conservatives have failed to articulate a coherent response that is persuasive. In a day an age where the Bible is considered an antiquated book, is there really much the Conservative (Christian or not) can do? Let’s face it, socially Conservative’s opinions are not any more valid than a Liberal’s. Why, because he grants to the homosexual that the basis for morality is to found in man, not God. He is embarrassed to even mention that the Creator ordains the institution of government, much less marriage.

A great example was used by Rush Limbaugh when he discussed John McCain's position on Global Warming. Here we have granted Liberals the false premise that Global Warming is occurring and man is responsible for it. Then Conservatives try to argue that we can fix it in a better way. The problem now is that Conservatives have granted a false premise to the other side, and now we are surprised Liberals are running away with victory in hand, leaving Conservatives embarrassed to even discuss the issue in a fundamental way.

“It's because there is a lot of misunderstanding about what homosexuality really is, as well as the erroneous assumption that gay people enjoy the same civil rights protections as everyone else. There are also a lot of stereotypes about gay relationships, and even a great deal of misunderstanding of what marriage itself is all about and what its purpose is.”

I am certain that there are a lot of stereotypes of gay men. When I Googled homosexuality, I saw nearly every perversion that could possibly have come up on my screen. I immediately had to hit that back button and fast. Yet, I know this is not necessarily the real world of homosexuality.

Nevertheless, it is irrelevant what the stereotypes are. The State has a duty to maintain justice before God. The State knows what is right and wrong because the State also is able to read God’s Revelation. No, the State does not have to become Christian, nor does it have to believe in Jesus or promote it in a way that the church is responsible for. There is a separation between the two institutions (I will discuss more on this subject in a later post.). Social Conservatives, Christian or not, must stop granting the false premise in the culture debate.

Suffice it to say, that men know what the truth is. God is the Creator and man is His creature. God is the one who decides how His creation is to function. Homosexuality is a perversion of the created order. Suppressing that truth will only further bring the judgment of God upon us. Perhaps the Oligarchy is His judgment upon a people that have been freed from tyranny for over 200 years.

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