Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
I hear you, but I don't think it is quite as simple as you see it. Morality, as informed by religious belief, has always been the prime source of law.
I guess I'll have to take your word for this - I'll definitely ask a few lawyers I know about it. It comes as a surprise to me. Our law is based on British Common Law and I always thought it was more secular than that.
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
Christians ... feel a need to preserve traditional values, whether it is concerning marriage, what their children are taught in school or how freely they are allowed to voice their religious objections to homosexual conduct. All these are under attack from the gay agenda.
Regarding what their children are taught in schools, radical Christians don't want their children told that homosexuality is ok. The problem is, the majority feel it is okay. So that's a problem for radical Christians to deal with. In a free society, there will be laws concerning what kids can be taught in both public and private schools. These laws reflect the public's collective desires about the kind of society they want to live in. That's why I maintain that radical Muslims, if they want to live by Sharia law, should get the hell out of our part of the world, because we don't live that way here. Regarding their ability to voice their opinions, they are free to do so, but must get used to being ridiculed for it. Regarding marriage, the Christians are taking a strong stand and seem to be holding some ground on this issue.
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
Something that always perplexes me is how people who are arguing for maintaining the laws, traditions and standards that we as a country observed for 250 years can be reviled for trying to force their views on others.
There's nothing perplexing about it at all (to me), especially considering the the particular 250 years you cite (the last 250) include the biggest changes every seen in human society, particularly in Western countries. It's unfortunate for those who would rather see us adhere to standards of behaviour which obtained in 1860, but this is progress.
To be honest, it is perplexing to me that anyone would find it perplexing that standards of behaviour have changed over the past 250 years.
Anyhow, the radical right has been forced to give a lot of ground and are taking at strong stand on the issue of the definition of marriage. The fight over what can be taught in schools is long over - it will never be legal for any radical Christian group to teach in their private schools that homosexuality is wrong, which is as it should be. Again, there are a lot of legal ramifications involved in proclaiming that gays can be 'married' in the same sense as opposite sex couples and this is why I am undecided on the issue. I am sure that eventually it will be allowed.