First off let me tell you that I am a Christian, and PERSONALLY I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and if anyone asks me, straight or gay, I would have absolutely no problem telling them that.
As a student of "Communication" at CSUSM, I have taken many classes about Political Communication and am a little more aware of the tactics people use to convince others. This election season makes me sick, so when I see signs like the one I mentioned above, it makes my stomach turn.
I think its a fair assessment that people believe what they hear from people they care about. My pastor at church gave a statement about Prop 8, saying that he would never marry a gay couple. I can respect that, nor would I have expected him to act differently. He also mentioned how the church is "Very Organized" and will pass this proposition and that everyone should vote yes on Prop 8.
If I was just some Joe-Follower I would go to the polls on November 4th and Vote Yes. But instead I chose to actually research the Prop.
www.SmartVoter.org is a website created by the League of Women Voters, they offer non bias information on all Propositions.
Here's what they had to say: (Bolding is MY emphasis)
BACKGROUND:
In March 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22 to specify in state law that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. In May 2008, the California Supreme Court ruled that the statute enacted by Proposition 22 and other statutes that limit marriage to a relationship between a man and a woman violated the equal protection clause of the California Constitution. It also held that individuals of the same sex have the right to marry under the California Constitution. As a result of the ruling, marriage between individuals of the same sex is currently valid or recognized in the state.
PROPOSAL
This measure amends the California Constitution to specify that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. As a result, notwithstanding the California Supreme Court ruling of May 2008, marriage would be limited to individuals of the opposite sex, and individuals of the same sex would not have the right to marry in California.
Summary of Arguments FOR Proposition 8:
- Proposition 8 restores what 61% of voters already approved: marriage is only between a man and a woman. Four judges in San Francisco should not have overturned the people's vote. Prop. 8 fixes that mistake by reaffirming traditional marriage, but doesn't take away any rights or benefits from gay domestic partners.
Summary of Arguments AGAINST Proposition 8:
- Equality under the law is a fundamental freedom. Regardless of how we feel about marriage, singling people out to be treated differently is wrong. Prop. 8 won't affect our schools, but it will mean loving couples are treated differently under our Constitution and denied equal protection under the law
On Saturday I changed my facebook status to let people I was voting No.
I received many responses.
you will limit Christian freedom by voting no. Christians will not only have to tolerate homosexuality, but will have to condone it. Prop 8 doesn't take away any rights from homosexuals, they still have their partnership rights........but voting "no" makes it mandatory for us to condone and therefore never be able to quote the bible in any regards to God's views.First off, the Prop changes "current" law. Voting NO leaves the State Constitution alone, a no vote doesnt enact any new rules. A tactic in Political Communication is whats commonly called "scare tactics." Scare tactics are used to scare someone into voting a certain way. Saying that voting no will make Christians have to condone gay marriage is a scare tactic. Nowhere does it say you have to condone it and change theology. Pornography is legal, yet the church doesn't condone it. Government cant tell someone to change their morals.
A reply from facebook:
no on 8 will make it the "law" that homosexual marriage is "ok" and then (and it's already happened in mass.) it will be taught in the schools as "normal" and parents cannot reject the teaching based on any judeo/Christian ethic. so the government will be telling Christians they must condone it. check it out John.Again, no on 8 doesn't make it "law" it already is law. Equal rights in already in the constitution. Its true schools would be able to teach that the government definition is between 2 people regardless of sex of the individuals. Hilary McLean, press secretary for state schools chief Jack O'Connell said "while local school boards could add marriage classes to their curricula, there would be no statewide mandate to do so." I think the church does a great job in teaching marriage. I think if you do believe in the teachings of Jesus, that you would share that with your children. School didn't teach me about Jesus but I believe in him.
Another person brought up a point:
The other thing is that 4 judges ignored the 61% vote that Californians already decided on to say that we believe marriage should be between a man and woman. You can't just ignore what the people have already said.The Yes on Prop 8 site says the same thing:
Because four activist judges in San Francisco wrongly overturned the people’s vote, we need to pass this measure as a constitutional amendment to RESTORE THE DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE as a man and a woman.Judges uphold the law, and they overturned Prop 22 as it VIOLATED State Consitution, you cant suddenly call them "activists" who "wrongly" overturned the peoples vote or saying they are ignoring Californians when they are doing thier job. Also its funny how the Prop 8 site mentions the judges are from San Francisco, THEY ARE STATE SUPREME COURT JUDGES.
Another point given to me:
I also heard that churches and other religious charities could lose their exempt status for refusing to accept gay marriage. That's just wrong.I think you have been misinformed, I don't think that is true, California is different than Massachusetts. Mike Swift from the Mercury News gathered this info:
To support its claim that churches' tax-exempt status could be at risk, the Yes on 8 campaign cited a New Jersey case where same-sex couples who wanted to have a commitment ceremony were denied use of a beach pavilion owned by a Methodist-affiliated organization. The state, saying the pavilion was not open to the public on an equal basis, revoked the tax-exempt status of the pavilion — but not the organization, nor the rest of its property.So that myth is dead. Please dont believe the scare tactics.The manager of the Yes on 8 campaign, Frank Schubert, acknowledged that constitutional protections for religious practice protect a church's tax-exempt status.
"A church would be very likely permitted to refuse to perform a gay wedding in the church with no risk to their tax exemption," Schubert said in a written statement. "But if the church rents out property to the public for use as a wedding site, they could not prohibit a gay couple from renting that property for the wedding."
Again let me reiterate that I do think marriage should be between a man and a woman. But im smarter to realize what that this is a bad ballot proposition, the law states equality. I dont believe the government should legislate what "we" think is moral. I also dont think its very "Christian" to force our beliefs on others using the law. Does it say anywhere in the Bible where Jesus convinced the law makers of the day to make it law anything he said? No, Jesus dicipled people, shared with people, made a role model for us to follow. The church should and is doing that for christian families. I've learned a lot about marriage from my church.
I welcome all responses to this issue, email me at jonathanhall@gmail.com or comment this blog post. Try to convince me I am wrong. One great thing I have learned from my Political Communication classes is that "dissent" is great for politics. If there is no dissent, there is no challenging of ideas and we get forced to believe what our government officials tell us, and then there is no accountability. Still want to vote yes? Try to convince me I am wrong.
Vote no on 8.
3 comments:
Thank you Jon, for being among the few Christians who still choose to question, challenge and not simply accept that what other people tell you.
Its unfortunate to see that on Facebook you have a few friends who find that it's acceptable to just fall in line, and not seek out truth in its totality. Irrational fear is something that envelopes a lot of people and its that fear that feeds predjudice and stimulates the creation of bills like Prop 8, anything to impede on our constitutional and inalienable human rights.
Not to sound like a bigot myself, but its no shock to me to hear that Christians would make comments to you like that about this proposition.
Its good to see that even if you dont agree with the basic concept of homosexual marriage, that you would support the failure of this bill because it wholly undermines our rights as Americans.
Here's a simple scenario. Let's step out of yourselves (in many cases your "identity") for a second and say Christianity WASN'T the majority religion of America.
Let's say the popular religion of the U.S. considered Christianity devious and wrong. Why? Simply because their belief system said so. No real facts or reasons to back it up, other than this religion's book said Christians are bad. So they decided to pass a law banning marriage between anyone of their religion and Christians. Or make the hiring of Christians illegal.
Wouldn't you consider that to be discrimination?
Just because your belief system says one thing, doesn't mean that it's correct. Remember when there were laws that women and blacks couldn't vote? Many people justified it because the bible considered women and slaves lesser people than men.
Both are great comments and scenarios. I'm glad people are discussing this. Knowledge is power. I've had a few other responses sent to my email as well, I look forward to discussing the Prop.
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