same-sex marriage

I just got an email about a new commercial being aired by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) concerning a “storm” that’s brewing in this country. What is the storm? Same-sex marriage, of course. The commercial is just filled with nonsense, but attempts to convey a sense of dread about how same-sex marriage is taking over the country and taking away the rights of our citizens.

Some quotes:

“Some who advocate for same-sex marriage have taken the issue far beyond same-sex couples.”

“They want to bring the issue into my life.”

“My freedom will be taken away.”

“I’m a California doctor who must choose between my faith and my job.”

“I’m part of a New Jersey church group punished by the government because we can’t support same-sex marriage.”

“Those advocates want to change the way I live.”

It goes on, but then turns brighter by saying that a “rainbow coalition” (oh, the irony!) is “coming together in love to protect marriage.” Then it invites viewers to visit the website and join them (the bigotry there is even more prominent, enhanced by the vehement denials of bigotry).

At the bottom of the video, there’s s line of text stating “The stories these actors are telling are based on real incidents.” No detail is provided, however, so we don’t know what happened to the woman who says, “My freedom will be taken away” or how the New Jersey church group was “punished by the government.”

Regardless of each story’s details, the one common thread is that all of them are born of religion-based bigotry. Sadly, in a country where about a third of the people see evolution as false, it’s not all that surprising. Religious belief removes the motivation for scientific inquiry and curiousity in the same way that it accentuates and validates bigotry and intolerance. Any time a claim is made of “absolute truth,” you can be somewhat sure that “truth” is nowhere to be found. Any time a claim is made of “objective morality,” you can be somewhat sure that “morality” is the last thing you’ll find.

The same-sex marriage opponents are the worker bees of religious dogma. If the ancient holy book claims that same-sex marriage is wrong, then same-sex marriage must be the evil storm of Satan trying to overtake and destroy this nation “under God.” Oh… and no shellfish.

Maybe they’d better form a rainbow coalition.

*snicker*