Yep, Saturday I'm going to ride the subway in L.A. for the first time, I didn't really even know that we had a subway. There is a rally about proposition 8 at city hall and our a group is meeting at our church to attend the rally in support of those who have lost their basic right to marry the person they love.
I was not going to go. I was experiencing a little apathy and a little anxiety. There is bound to be a lot of people there and it's Saturday after all. But after watching Keith Olbermann's statement (check it out here) on the passing of proposition 8 I can't not go to the rally, I cannot be apathetic.
So I will ride the subway, another new thing!
4 comments:
Olbermann is most definitely a moving and convinving speaker...but he is wrong here on many counts.
First, he completely misrepresents our religion and our God's will. He says that since our God supposedly represents universal love, that God would want homosexuals to have the right to marry and be "happy". And he argues that for Christians to do God's will, we must strive to make others "happy". He is right about God representing unending love...but it isn't a love that seeks to please people and make sure that they are always happy. It's a love like a parent's love of their child. I'm guessing that when you were a kid, it would have made you very happy for your parents to have let you eat ice cream whenever you wanted. And drink lots and lots of cokes or shakes or whatever. But your parents knew what was best for you, and what would be the best for you in the long run.
Also, Olbermann here represents God's love as blind. This is not the nature of God's love, according to the bible. God's love is unending, not blind. Again, like a parent, God will love us no matter what we do...and will always forgive us when we break his rules (which are there for good reasons). God knows that eating lots of ice cream, or getting cool new things makes us happy. But, He also knows that real happiness only comes when we do our best to be like His perfect son - sinless. It is an impossible goal, no doubt, but the harder we try, the closer we become with God.
Olbermann also compares past unjust laws regarding interracial marriage to Prop 8 and homosexual marriage. This is a false comparison, no matter how convincing it may sound.
The issue of race and the differences between skin color are fundamentally different than the issue of gender and the differences between the two sexes. It simply cannot be intelligently argued that black men are fundamentally different than white men, and that black women are fundamentally than white woman. On the other hand, it can't be argued that men and a women are inherently the same. If you tried, then you would logically end up arguing that current sexual segregation of restrooms, locker rooms, etc...are as unjust as were the segregation of restrooms and water fountains in the 1950s.
As you see, it's a very, very complicated issue, gay marriage, and it can't be simplified to the level that olbermann does.
If you still want to support the right of homosexuals to marry, don't fool yourself into thinking you are doing so because of your religion, or because homosexuals are being discriminated against similar to African Americans in decades past. This is a completely new issue, and it should be looked upon as such.
wow Justin- very well explained.
I'd like to address the fact of you not really knowing there was a subway. Are you forgetting APO's offices on Alias? :) Sus
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