Defending Marriage Against Its Protectors Apr 28 '05    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line Marriage? I'm all for it. This is a response to the Gay-Marriage writeoff (please see http://www.epinions.com/content_4325744772#ow ). Thank you for reading my entry. What are your spiritual beliefs or religious affiliations? I have been practicing Zen-style meditation for 12 years, and am formally affiliated with an international Zen Buddhist order. It is probably worth mentioning that I am authorized to perform weddings, and have solemnized six so far. What is your sexual orientation? My relationships, including my current one, have all been heterosexual. But I identify myself simply as 'sexual.' How do you see your own religious/spiritual views as influencing your opinion of sexuality? My practice is to pay attention. Sexuality is a primal force, and the desire that attends to sexuality’s needs is something that exerts a very strong pull on our perception and our choices. In the practice that I follow, we attend closely to this process. By paying attention to a process like this, our identification with that process changes. How do you define marriage? A union between individuals, entailing a civil contract (pertaining to legal rights and property), and a spiritual bond. What thoughts or reactions do you have to these two pictures? (all completely safe for work, home, etc.) 1. http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2004/03/10/ba_knight01.jpg I think the minister is dressed a bit casually for the occasion. 2. http://www.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2004/02/13/ba_gaywed_01_lm.jpg I wonder how long these two have been together, and how much they had to worry about medical options or what happens if one of them is incapacitated. I wonder if they still have to worry. How does one of Christian faith reconcile these two pictures? Is one “right” and one “wrong”? What reactions do you have to seeing these signs? I am not Christian and will not presume to discourse on what is and is not a correct Christian belief. It has been my understanding that Jesus’s message was that God doesn’t abhor anyone, no matter what; but this could be my misinterpretation, or perhaps it is something that is too scary for many of us to accept. Why do you think the topic of homosexuality is so polarizing in religious communities? There seem to be those who want to forgive sinners, and those who want to smite them. Scripture can be cropped to support either prejudice. We like to identify with our prejudices anyway, and if we convince ourselves that our prejudices have spiritual authority, so much the better. Should the government be in the business of defining marriage? Why or why not? As mentioned above, I think there is a civil aspect and a spiritual aspect that can be considered separately. Civil laws pertaining to marriage and the rights of married people are certainly a matter for government. Religious institutions have their own rules and definitions. I am not ‘entitled’ to a Catholic wedding, but I am entitled – as a citizen – to be married. Would you support the legalization of gay marriage? I think the assertion that society’s moral fabric will be eroded or that civil order would be disrupted if two women or two men are allowed to marry is baseless and counter-productive. Considering the success rate of “straight marriage,” how does anyone believe that this is what is holding our society together, and that we must defend it or face the collapse of our value system? What a bunch of hooey. The debate has become a mean-spirited political struggle to deny people civil rights based on prejudice, which in turn has led people to distort religious teachings in order to justify bashing gays. I feel I am watching religion, human fellowship, and a great country getting trashed all at once. It is a sad spectacle I am not proud to witness. On the contrary, it is my belief that society is served well by stable marriages, and we should do everything we can to encourage human beings to unite in healthy, monogamous, loving matrimony. The focus on the respective sexes is, for me, missing what is most important. Marriage is a serious and challenging undertaking, and if two men or two women are ready to go on that journey, they have my blessing and gratitude. I do not support “gay marriage” – I support MARRIAGE. Yes, I will recognize and honor the matrimony between two women or two men; yes, I would perform a marriage ceremony for them, if I felt the couple was ready for that vocation. If you answered yes, what are your fears behind it remaining illegal? People will be denied civil rights they should be entitled to in our Republic. And I regret what is happening to our society as the fight rages and hate defines us, not to mention what we are losing by denying the right of marriage to people who want it. Would you support government-sanctioned civil unions between homosexual couples? I would like to call a marriage a marriage. Do you see any way of bridging this current divide in our country over "wedge issues" like gay marriage or abortion? Or should we even be trying? In all honesty, how many people really want to bridge the divide? Egocentricity gets no satisfaction out of that! What do you see America's view of homosexuality and gay marriage being in 100 years from today? What will those future Americans think of us in 2005, as they look back? Ah, predicting the future… I would like to think that this decade will be studied as a decade in which the USA made a significant shift in its understanding of human fellowship.

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