<\/p>\n
While hosting a cable show last week, I asked the following question:<\/span><\/p>\n It seems that the only arguments against gay marriage are on religious grounds.\u00a0 Is that fair to say?<\/span><\/p>\n One of my interviewees, an atheist with a doctorate in theology, readily agreed.\u00a0 The other interviewee, an employee of Christian organization with a seminary degree, said something like this: \u201cThat\u2019s a great question; a lot of people make that assumption.\u00a0 However, there are other reasons for not legalizing same-sex marriage: some have argued that it\u2019s simply not natural; animals do not engage in homosexuality.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I was going to move on to the next topic for discussion, but the atheist intervened and politely pointed out that there is homosexual behavior in animals.\u00a0 He even pointed out my all-time favorite study in this area \u2013 a study that appeared in a 2003 issue of Endocrinology <\/em>finding that 8% of domestic rams prefer other rams over ewes.\u00a0 (Give a whole new meaning to the term \u201csheep-like\u201d, doesn\u2019t it?)\u00a0 And, though I did not mention this during the show, I have owned more than one pair of lesbian birds.<\/span><\/p>\n But my point here is not whether or not same-sex marriage should be legalized; my point is this: It is my finding that people will attempt to prop up tenuous beliefs with secular supporting arguments.\u00a0 In this way, it helps to validate a position which lacks inherent \u2018truthfulness\u2019 or even logic and, perhaps, win over non-believers.<\/span><\/p>\n Apart from the above, a case in point is an issue my former religion took with blood transfusions.\u00a0 Of course, their main argument for shunning blood was their interpretation of a verse in Acts. But they often cited the risk of HIV from tainted blood.\u00a0 In this way, the HIV-risk served as a validation for their unique (and occasionally fatal) stance on blood.<\/span><\/p>\n A better example is birthdays.\u00a0 Last night, I had another enjoyable phone conversation with a relative who, among other things, told me that if, indeed, I had done all the research I claim to have done, then I should know birthdays are wrong \u2013 \u201cYou know candles on cakes are of pagan origin, and no Christians in the first-century celebrated their birthday and if it was so important to celebrate birthdays, why doesn\u2019t the bible say when Jesus was born?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In the fluster of the exchange, I tried to quickly dispel these \u2018supports\u2019 for what is quite possibly the Witnesses\u2019 most arbitrary policy.\u00a0 I pointed out that no one is claiming that birthday celebrations are \u201cimportant\u201d, and that, if we are to use the first century Christians as examples, where is the record of them reporting their time, attending five meetings a week, shaving, celebrating graduations, wedding anniversaries, and baby showers (a birthday party if there ever was one!)?\u00a0 These are all practiced by Witnesses today\u2026though each item lacks a first-century precedent.\u00a0 On the matter of candles, I noted that my wife and I had been the frequent recipient of candle-topped cakes for our wedding anniversaries, and that these cakes were often the gift of Witness family members.<\/span><\/p>\n This caused my relative to become quite agitated.\u00a0 The subject was abruptly changed: \u201cThat\u2019s not why I called,\u201d was the scathing bit of logic that brought an end to that discussion.<\/span><\/p>\n Anyway\u2026 what I\u2019m trying to say is that those \u2018supporting rationales\u2019 lend credence to a policy\/belief\/desire that has no fundamentally sound premise.\u00a0 For example, I might say: \u201cYummy, I like to drink this Pepsi.\u00a0 And you know what; it\u2019s also good for me!\u201d\u00a0 Then someone might respond: \u201cUm, actually, it\u2019s not good for you.\u201d\u00a0 I could either abandon my soft drink consumption, or confess the reality: \u201cYeah, I know.\u00a0 The thing is, I just love the taste.\u00a0 Is that so bad?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n No, in the case of Pepsi drinking (and I do not drink Pepsi), perhaps it\u2019s not so bad.\u00a0 But when it comes to forcing a wedge between family members, or denying sheep-like people their civil rights, then I want some valid rationales.<\/span><\/p>\n So I ask: What are the (valid) reasons for not legalizing gay marriage?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While hosting a cable show last week, I asked the following question: It seems that the only arguments against gay marriage are on religious grounds.\u00a0 Is that fair to say? One of my interviewees, an atheist with a doctorate in theology, readily agreed.\u00a0 The other interviewee, an employee of Christian organization with a seminary degree, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-free-thinking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171\/revisions\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zimmerscope.com\/Verbisaurus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}