Handbaskets
It’s an election year. And we are probably all aware that the hot button this year is ‘marriage equality’ or ‘defense of marriage’ . . . depending on which side you are on.
Here’s my problem: there are homeless people in America. Every year, I have to fill out a survey for each of my kids stating that we live in a house rather than a car or a box and that we have enough food to feed them. A lot of people don’t. There are hungry children in America. There are children who don’t have homes. Children being abused. Why are we so hung up on who marries whom?
If you don’t want a gay marriage, don’t have one. If you don’t want an interracial marriage, don’t have one. No one is forcing you to have a Catholic marriage. Let’s be honest, how many of you are on a second marriage? A marriage that would not be recognized if we lived in a state defined by Catholic Law. But no one is making laws against the Catholics, because they have the right to live their lives old and alone because they believe that God says they can’t remarry.
Before you get out your Bible and say ‘but God says . . .’ ask yourself this: have you had sex outside of your marriage? Or before you were married? Hope you are rock-proof, because the Bible says we are to stone you to death. God also says you cannot wear fabric made of more than one fiber. Are you ready to go to jail for that? Because we are entering a system where we argue about which parts of the Bible to enact, and which to ignore. And we are arguing this in a country defined by separation of church and state.
You have the freedom to think two men or two women marrying is wrong, wrong, wrong. And you have the right to vote against laws that keep toasters from having the right to marry anyone. (Toasters are really underrepresented in the US legal system. They have no Senators, no lobby factions and no rights to health insurance . . . and they will never be allowed to marry anyone.)
Here’s the deal: I don’t have the right to make you stop smoking. I pay for your medical care you incur with your only-three-cigarettes-per-day habit, but I don’t have the right to make you stop. I don’t have the right to keep genetically modified foods out of the supermarkets and I don’t have the right to insist that they be there. I don’t even have the right to run that stop sign when I’m in a hurry and no one’s around. And I don’t have the right to tell you what to believe. Because if I did, if we could vote just based on what rights we think other people ought to have, I wouldn’t vote against your right to marry whomever you choose, I’d vote against your right to vote.
If you want to believe that gay people are going to hell, you have that right. But why are you putting your efforts at stopping two people from loving each other? There are people who need homes, clothing, food . . . if you want to be a good Christian, put your efforts at helping these people rather than hurting people who aren’t doing anything to you. Do you believe in a Jesus who will be proud of you for being hateful? Do you believe that what someone else does in their marriage affects yours? Do you think American law changes Heaven’s Law? I don’t.
Here’s what it means to be an American: you have the right to smoke, even though we know it’s harmful. Why? Because it only hurts you. (Actually that’s not true at ALL, but your right still exists.) You have the right to eat yourself into an early grave, because it only hurts you! And you have the right to go to hell. In a pretty handbasket with a bow. While singing showtunes.
Listen to AJ's Podcast SMART CHICKENS
Because Sometimes We All Just Want to Fly the Coop!
