Just what is the Constitution for anyway?
Today, the US Senate effectively filibustered the effort to amend our Constitution with a law defining a marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
I have grappled long and hard with this issue. Being a born-again Christian (is there any other kind?), and believing the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God, I consider homosexuality to be a sin. (To explore my views fully on this issue is for another time and another post, but that about sums them up.)
As a believer, I also know that the Bible defines marriage in God's eyes to be between one man and one woman (Deuteronomy 17:17). This, too, is for another post. Suffice it to say that any Biblical man who has taken multiple wives has met with disaster.
Now that I have defined my religious stance on the subject, I must also look at it from another angle. The fact that I am an American weighs in heavily on this matter. The freedom that we Americans can boast is no small matter; it is huge. It is nearly everything. We enjoy the freedom to assemble, the freedom to worship (or not) as we choose, the freedom to express opinions contrary to our leadership without fear of retribution, the freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Nowhere else in the world is such an abundance of freedoms enjoyed. Why not the freedom to choose with whom we would like to spend the rest of our lives?
Regardless of your beliefs or mine, the one thing that is crystal clear is that this amendment would have been bad for our Constitution and for our nation. The strength of our nation, and the resilience of our freedom and our democratic republic, rest solely on the foundation defined in our Constitution. It is easy to forget that the Constitution exists, in its original design, not to limit the freedoms of citizens through laws, but to restrain the power of government over our lives. In this sense, such an amendment that would effectively outlaw gay marriage is wholly counterproductive to the purpose of that document.
My sister has a bumper sticker that reads "Keep your laws off my body." Exactly. In successfully filibustering the issue of Senate Joint Resolution 40, the Senators stayed faithful to the true purpose of the Constitution: increase the freedoms for America's citizens, not diminish them.
-SY
I have grappled long and hard with this issue. Being a born-again Christian (is there any other kind?), and believing the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God, I consider homosexuality to be a sin. (To explore my views fully on this issue is for another time and another post, but that about sums them up.)
As a believer, I also know that the Bible defines marriage in God's eyes to be between one man and one woman (Deuteronomy 17:17). This, too, is for another post. Suffice it to say that any Biblical man who has taken multiple wives has met with disaster.
Now that I have defined my religious stance on the subject, I must also look at it from another angle. The fact that I am an American weighs in heavily on this matter. The freedom that we Americans can boast is no small matter; it is huge. It is nearly everything. We enjoy the freedom to assemble, the freedom to worship (or not) as we choose, the freedom to express opinions contrary to our leadership without fear of retribution, the freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Nowhere else in the world is such an abundance of freedoms enjoyed. Why not the freedom to choose with whom we would like to spend the rest of our lives?
Regardless of your beliefs or mine, the one thing that is crystal clear is that this amendment would have been bad for our Constitution and for our nation. The strength of our nation, and the resilience of our freedom and our democratic republic, rest solely on the foundation defined in our Constitution. It is easy to forget that the Constitution exists, in its original design, not to limit the freedoms of citizens through laws, but to restrain the power of government over our lives. In this sense, such an amendment that would effectively outlaw gay marriage is wholly counterproductive to the purpose of that document.
My sister has a bumper sticker that reads "Keep your laws off my body." Exactly. In successfully filibustering the issue of Senate Joint Resolution 40, the Senators stayed faithful to the true purpose of the Constitution: increase the freedoms for America's citizens, not diminish them.
-SY
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