A reader writes:
I write this with a certain weariness, but nevertheless it is important. I can’t help but read your blog because as an articulate gay, catholic conservative you are inevitably conflicted and therefore rarely have uninteresting things to say!
In more hubristic moments I sometimes think of myself as something of a mirror image of you: I am an entirely monogamous heterosexual man (I have only ever had sex with one person in my life – my wife of 14 years). We have two thriving children. Put simply, my family is the almost perfectly nauseating embodiment of what the Dobsons of this world dream about, but with one caveat: none of us have the slightest interest in the idea of God in any of his incarnations.
I don’t like the word "athiest" because it implies the absence of a God and this is not the way we live our lives. We live joyful, peaceful, happy, fullfilling lives – we take nothing for granted, but we have never experienced spiritual hunger or thirst, or whatever metaphor you want to use and yes, we have been through very difficult times, but the idea of a God has always been either meaningless or counter productive in our struggles through life.
I have the greatest respect for your sexuality, your religion, and your conservatism and would never presume for a second that somehow my sexual disposition and the choices I have made in my life represent anything more my sexual disposition or the choices I have made. This is America, and I am happy to be evangelized by any one who makes the effort, but the sooner the haters – from Neuhaus (thanks for the link to the Damon Linker piece in the New Republic) to Dobbs – who want to legislate my sexual disposition, my morality, my family values, my absence of religion, and my ethical choices – get lives for themselves and leave the good people of this country alone, the happier we will all be."
The Dish 