Ruminations of an Irascible Hermit.: The thorny issue of Same Sex Marriage

Monday, June 29, 2015

The thorny issue of Same Sex Marriage

I usually try to stay clear of this topic, but since America has made it legal in all 50 States it has become a major topic on Facebook and a subject I am no longer able to stay away from. This is my personal opinion on the matter and I call it a "middle ground" - the following is what I wrote to someone on Facebook after I had deleted them because of comments on their wall and they inboxed me asking my opinion.

Christians and gays are arguing from two different definitions of marriage,. Christians believe it a for a man and woman to have children and is a sacrament before God that the state recognises for stability of the children.

The modern definition of marriage is that it is a public proclamation of love to the exclusivity of all others. So it is basically just a legal contract. Based on the modern understanding of marriage there is no reason why gays should not be able to get married.

The problem is Catholics still argue using natural law, but society no longer accepts natural law theory. It is all relativism,. So in this way I believe the Church is trying to fight a losing battle. Secular weddings and divorce and contraception have been destroying the "sanctity of marriage" for years, don't try to blame the gays for it. Gays wanting marriage is a natural conclusion based on the current practices and beliefs of marriage. So many gay people grow up hating them selves, being bullied and sometimes even victimised for how they feel. So this is why they want marriage - if it becomes a social norm through recognising same sex unions, then people will no longer have reasons to ridicule gay kids or bully them. that's the main reason why people want gay marriage.

In my point of view the Church needs to accept that it no longer has influence over politics as we are now living in a post-Christian society. So therefore leave marriage as a sacrament, something spiritual. So priests should no longer be civil celebrants, you should have to register in the registry and have a separate religious ceremony. That way Catholics can be married according to the law of the land as well as have the sacrament of holy matrimony.

That is the middle ground that I personally believe the church should make. Eg... both my parents are baptised catholics but got married in an Anglican church - so canonically according to the church they are not married, but legally they are.

Why can't we just have the same attitude to same sex unions? There are more important things to be fighting over. Also yes children deserve a mother and father, but the reality from divorce is that most children don't get to have two parents. So why not let them have two loving same sex parents? If a mother and grandmother can bring up a child with love and care, why should a same sex couple be discriminated against?

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Disclaimer

Please note. I am a Catholic layman, not a qualified theologian or philosopher. What I say and write here are my own personal thoughts and ideas, although I always try to conform my writings to the Magisterium of the Church.

I- with firm faith believe and profess everything that is contained in the symbol of faith: namely,

I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

With firm faith I believe as well everything contained in God's word, written or handed down in tradition and proposed by the church--whether in solemn judgment or in the ordinary and universal Magisterium--as divinely revealed and called for faith.

I also firmly accept and hold each and every thing that is proposed by that same church definitively with regard to teaching concerning faith or morals.

What is more, I adhere with religious submission of will and intellect to the teachings which either the Roman pontiff or the college of bishops enunciate when they exercise the authentic Magisterium even if they proclaim those teachings in an act that is not definitive.