tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005502.post7557067606527504649..comments2023-11-28T13:30:46.120-05:00Comments on Leonardo's Notebook By Mattheus Mei: A new Holocaust MonumentMattheus Meihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07629195495902678804noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005502.post-84615857105105317122008-05-20T00:23:00.000-04:002008-05-20T00:23:00.000-04:00Ok ... that clarification helps (First para). I w...Ok ... that clarification helps (First para). I was a bit taken aback at first ... <BR/><BR/>We're also in a situation though, now, where one can acknowledge the human dignity of <I>persons</I> who experience SSA (howsoever they might self-identify), while coming to very divergent conclusions about what public policy. <BR/><BR/>One of the essences of Catholic teaching at least on human sexuality is that no person can be reduced solely to their sexuality. <BR/><BR/>What I fear (as much, perhaps, as you fear "religious conservatives" or as you put it, borrowing Andrew Sullivan's language, "theocons"), is the kind of "liberal fascism" which threatens, especially, religious freedom. <BR/><BR/>As to the second para: yes marriage pre-dates the State. But, obviously, it's not <I>only</I> a religious institution. I'm not sure I like the State of Israel's practices. That's neither here nor there ... :)Fr. Gaurav Shroff https://www.blogger.com/profile/04964314266441708310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005502.post-74777444639545891802008-05-19T23:05:00.000-04:002008-05-19T23:05:00.000-04:00That language, the language against homosexuals th...That language, the language against homosexuals that is deeply rooted in our western tradition and extrapolated from our shared religious experience is what I'm pointing out. The German hatred for Jews and the final solution as proposed by Hitler was based on secular ideological reasons - purity of race leading to the downfall of Germans after WWI, but the justification always was referenced to the religious roots of the anti-semitism, the Christ Killing Jews. That same language is present in the arguments against homosexuality in general and become even more present in the "reasoning" against gay marriage. Every argument pragmatic argument goes specifically back to religion and acclimations of the sinfullness of homosexuality. That's all I'm pointing out, as to Bridge-building...<BR/><BR/> I point to the last bit on the state of Marriage in Israel as the preferred model. It's only performed and legitimized by religious institutions. Marriage, no one can seem to successfully argue otherwise, is completely and totally a religious act. It predates the state because religion predates the state. You can't separate or justify the concept of marriage without religion. If perhaps a state wants to offer incentives to certain kinds of couplings for whatever reason, that's a prerogative of the state. But when it comes to the anthropological understanding of the metaphysical concept of Marriage - it's only a religious institution.Mattheus Meihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07629195495902678804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12005502.post-7606824440538999562008-05-19T15:44:00.000-04:002008-05-19T15:44:00.000-04:00Of course the critics of those activist judges who...<I>Of course the critics of those activist judges who have embraced arguments of the unnaturalness of homosexuality, its impurity and ruinousness result on the institute of marriage would never realize that the root of their arguments are the same arguments that just a century ago precipitated the mass murder of not only countless gay men but of over 6 million Jews.</I> Goodness, Mattie ... those who oppose gay marriage are now Nazis, and the only way to express one's affirmation of the human dignity of homosxual people is to revamp the institution of marriage to include same-sex couples?<BR/><BR/>So much for bridge-building, right?Fr. Gaurav Shroff https://www.blogger.com/profile/04964314266441708310noreply@blogger.com