“Once the courts recognize gay marriage as equal in all ways to heterosexual marriage, then everyone else – including churches – has to recognize gay marriage as equal, too. Any opposition will be deemed hateful by definition, and anyone who opposes gay marriage will be a hatemonger. Given that many religions and denominations teach that homosexuality is a sin, church attendance alone could suggest you’re homophobic. To the extent that one believes or preaches scripture, one is a bigot.
Hence some of the deep concern among legal professionals, as well as theologians. A secular world that ratifies homosexual marriage would provide a legal foundation that would open the floodgates to civil litigation against religious leaders, institutions and worshipers. In such an environment, churches might be sued for declining to provide their sanctuaries for gay marriages, for example. Ministers could be sued for hate speech for giving a sermon on moral behavior. Churches that protest homosexual unions could face revocation of their tax exemption status.” – Kathleen Parker, Townhall.com. Hello? Wouldn’t it be slightly more convincing if she had been able to name a single “legal professional” who believes that marriage rights for gays means the end of religious freedom in America? To take one simple analogy: civil divorce is now endemic. Yet the Catholic church refuses to recognize it. Does that mean that the feds are barring priests from preaching against divorce? Or against legal abortion? This kind of inflammatory rhetoric, scare-mongering and distortion is what happens when you have lost every other argument.
GEPHARDT OR EDWARDS?: Dan Drezner weighs them up.
JACKASS BEAT FAHRENHEIT: Yep, the movie with all those hot young straight dudes shoving toy cars up their posteriors actually beat out Michael Moore at the box office. F9/11 wasn’t the biggest grossing documentary. Jackass was. It was non-fiction, and about as informative as Mr Moore. And a lot more to look at.
The Dish 