nygreenguy wrote:dianaiad wrote:
That's not the fear...exactly. In certain circumstances, though, it could very well be. The examples you give are true...but what if the only reason that a minister refuses to marry two people IS because they are gay--when the government not only supports and authorizes gay marriage, but has quite a few laws on the books prohibiting discrimination against someone because of sexual orientation?
It is a very real fear, and it's not a good idea to simply discount it. The government has threatened the non-profit status of churches for considerably less than that.
The real fear is of more government intervention in religious matters; of a very basic and fundamental CHANGE in the way marraige is seen, traditionally and religiously...and there are those of us who are very well aware that the government has, does, and probably will continue to put legal pressure on religions to change their practices to conform in this matter.
The government and the courts have always upheld the right of religious organizations to discriminate.
For example, a non-christian sued the Salvation Army for not letting him be a bell ringer and the SA won because they are allowed to chose who works for them. Your worries are simply baseless.
Not exactly, no.
More importantly, the government has been very discriminatory itself against those religions which either do not, or are perceived to not, toe the line as to marriage as defined by the government. Shoot, B.H.Roberts, duly elected to the House of Representatives, was not allowed to take his seat because he was a Mormon...and Mormons were polygamous. Reed Smoot, who eventually was the principal force behind the formation of the National Park Service, was elected to the Senate----and was not allowed to take his seat for
three years.
.....Reed Smoot, who happened also to be an Apostle in the church, was not a polygamist himself. That didn't matter.
......and while I am not a member of the FLDS, nor do I agree with their beliefs, that Texas invasion of their compound a couple of years ago, based upon a fraudulent (and known to be fraudulent at the time) phone call, on a pretext that has since been shown to be absolutely bogus--and let's not forget those Baptist buses--proves that your statement is either exceptionally naive or ignorant (as in...you don't know your history).
It has happened. It does happen, even now, and it will, indeed, happen again.
So please, don't give me the 'my fears are groundless' line. That's like telling the guy who just got mugged that he doesn't need to worry about walking down that street again--after all, there's no crime in this city.
A raised eyebrow is the least you would get.