Living In the Stone Age
On my About page you’ll note the following line (if you actually cared enough to read that far) “I attended a private Catholic school for the first 9 years of my schooling life …” This was not a personal choice but rather something I had to do in accordance with the wishes of my parents. All in all I’d say it was a rewarding experience and a good choice considering the choice of alternate schools in my old neighbourhood. As I became older however, I turned my back on mainstream religion. Why? For precisely the reasons outlined in the following story.
The new Equality Bill is currently winding its way through Parliament in the UK, and while from far perfect, came under a vicious attack from the Vatican for all of the wrong reasons. From the the Times Online,
The Vatican condemned Britain’s proposed equality law yesterday, complaining that legislation to give homosexual equal rights “violates natural law”.
The Vatican condemned the proposed equality law? Really? Well I condemn the Vatican and its medieval mentality. The Vatican further stated the equality bill violates natural law. I accuse the Vatican of not only violating common sense but of trying to interfere with the process of granting basic human rights.
While I respect the right of the knuckle-draggers in the Vatican to hold to any belief they like the sexual orientation of a person is nobody’s damn business. I’m a little sick and tired of the practice of prying into the private lives of others and dictating to them how those lives should be lived.
The fact a basic right can be denied someone purely on the basis of sexual orientation disgusts me. What disgusts me even more is those who defend the practice.
Blogging Tories member Rightchik stated something in a recent post that struck a chord in me. I quote,
What isn’t natural is that a young man I truly cared about is dead. Dead because life was unbearable because of the constant beatings and discrimination he took from people who thought his sexual orientation wasn’t natural.
As I have progressed through life I like to think I have evolved, have become wiser. Things I used to believe in I no longer do and vice-versa. The fact someone took his life because society (and I speak in generalities) made it unbearable troubles me.
Lest I be accused of being a sanctimonious oaf let me state for the record that I am far from perfect. I have my faults, biases and weaknesses just like the rest of you. But I am trying to work through those. And when I find sanctioned discrimination such as the type outlined here it angers me.
Here’s a little tip for those in the Vatican who would impose their antiquated views on the masses. You want more people to flock to the church and embrace your god? Drop the medieval rhetoric and join the rest of us in the 21st century. It’s not that bad. Really.
Credits:
photo courtesy Wikipedia
quotes www.timesonline.co.uk
http://rightchik.blogspot.com
Len has been blogging for over 10 years. He is active in numerous places on the web including being a Moderator at BloggerForum and Administrator at Weblog Tools Collection Forum. You can also find him at his other site - WordPress Canada.
The problem with religion is that when you start changing it to suit the politically correct notions of the day, it ceases to become religion. The Vatican’s objection (with respect to equal homosexual rights) relate to the usual issues like marriage and adoption, as well as being forced to hire and/or ordain gay priests etc. The Catholic Church has always taken the stance that they feel NO ONE mistreated because of their racial background or sexual preference.
As one Archbishop noted “The Church, of course, upholds absolutely the equal dignity of every person irrespective of their faith, age, ability and so on.”
The Vatican isn’t saying anything about homosexuality that they haven’t said all along. Frankly, homosexuals have more rights than a religious person does anyway.
Hi Savant and thanks for sharing your views. Political correctness is indeed another pet peeve of mine and one I’ll surely address in due course. However, I’m not so quick to equate “the granting of equal rights to homosexuals” by the Catholic church with succumbing to “political correctness”.
There are many examples of society adhering to particular views which have then changed over time. Is part of the reason PC? I have no doubt. But I think the main reason is simple evolution.
I realize the example I’m about to cite is rather extreme but humour me. At one time it was thought homosexuals should be put to death. Thankfully, that is no longer the case, at least in the “civilized” world. This has nothing to do with PC. It’s just a simple matter of morals and values evolving over time.
You’re missing the point though. The reason that this even looks bad is since people are trying to lump everything into one vague ‘equal rights’ bag.
Let’s just pick out the most obvious, marriage, so I can indicate how things are already flawed.
Are you married? Do you recall filling out a marriage application? (if not, just read on) In Canada, prior to the ‘gay marriage’ battle, there was never anything stopping a gay person from getting married. The marriage application had a spot for a man and a woman. There was no box where you check off your sexual preference. A gay man could marry a gay woman, and the government wouldn’t have said a word. Alternately a straight man would be denied the ability to marry another straight man. So in the end marriage was very much fair and equal to everyone, since anyone could partake if they married someone of the opposite gender. How is that not equal? Surely you won’t argue that ‘love’ has a role in determining whether the government allows two people to get married. The government has never cared what the two people feel for one another. All they cared was that one was a man and another was a woman.
In any case, as I mentioned, it’s far too easy to lump everything into some behemoth called ‘equal rights’, and then decry those who object to certain parts of it. The Catholic church feels that homosexuals who stay celibate have done nothing wrong in the eyes of God.
You’ve given me something to chew on … I like that.
I’ll have to ponder this for awhile.