Monday, September 24, 2012

Why Adam Schiff is wrong about gay marriage



My opponent in the upcoming Congressional election, Representative Adam Schiff, believes in gay marriage.

I don't agree with him.

Here is why Adam Schiff is wrong about gay marriage:

1. Marriage is a religious institution, and pre-dates any government attempts to manage or interfere with it. This tradition should be left alone and respected.

People have been getting married for thousands of years. It is the oldest and most respected of all social customs. It has been up to the religions themselves that perform marriage to set their own standards, and all legitimate religions dictate that marriage is exclusively reserved for men and women. It wasn't even until after the Civil War that government in America started meddling in marriage and demanding certificates and registrations. The people of the world got on just fine for centuries without government meddling in the area of marriage. 

2. There is no such thing as Gay Marriage. It is a fantasy concept.

Homosexuals do not have the right to create or invent religious theology simply to fit their own desires. That is not the way the world works. If it did, people could create all types of wild theologies. The religions that perform the marriages set the rules. And none of them allow gays to marry.

3. Gay marriage is a dangerous trespass against the First Amendment.

This is the most disturbing of all arguments against gay marriage.

Our government shouldn't be in the position of dictating to religions what standards they have to accept when practicing their beliefs. More simply put.... if the government declares that it has the power to dictate that a man can get married to a man, then what is to stop that same government from declaring that a man can get married to a goat? Or that a woman can get married to a cat? Think about that for a minute.

Once government decides that they will make the rules of marriage, the religions are forced to become become subservient to any idea the government creates. This is very, very troubling for people of faith. And it is an egregious violation of the First Amendment protecting Freedom of Religion.

4. Gay Marriage is not about marriage. It is about legal rights.

Even gay couples will admit to this. They argue that they are being denied something like 1,100 rights that heterosexual couples are allowed. Now this is actually a legitimate argument from them. I'm willing to have this conversation. I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be able to visit a loved one in a hospital, or be put on their significant others life insurance.

They can even inherit their loved ones pension payments of other types of contracts and property. If our laws need to be revised to protect the legal, contractual rights of gays, then that I am willing to accept. But gays do not have the right to invent religious theology, nor do they have the right to force cultural values on others that are offensive to them and/or violate their religious faith.