Prop 8 trial and the swirl around gay ma...

Prop 8 trial and the swirl around gay marriage - hopefully we are coming to the end of this conversation. This country is built on the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If this pursuit harms no one, and no marriage can harm anyone but the people involved, than how is it anyone else's business? To complain that gay marriage undermines the institution of marriage, a thinking person might point out that we have already legalized divorce, which seems much more divisive. And when biblical or religious statements are made, It seems appropriate to remember that this country is founded on the separation of church and state, and that congress shall make no laws creating a state religion. Yet when one religion is used to dictate how others must behave according to law, than this law is creating a state supported religion. I would protest that my freedom to practice my religion is being hindered since my faith and my denomination support me performing same-sex marriages, but by law I am not allowed to perform them in Texas. And finally, when did it become the government's job to interfere with people's personal lives. This promotes nothing but the growth of big government focused on the wrong things. The government's job is to provide a climate conducive to civic, economic, environmental and social stability. This does not include interfering with people's personal choices about their private lives especially when it is between two loving and consenting adults.

May we soon see the justice of this civil and human right, just as we saw the justice in the human and civil rights for our African American brothers and sisters, with everything from the abolishing of slavery to the right of inter-racial marriage. Isn't it amazing that these things even had to be passed into law? Surely as human beings with hearts and minds steeped in the golden rule (which every philosophy, faith and way of life espouses) we can truly move into the 21st century together.

Petra Weldes and the Center for Spiritual Living, Dallas