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Advocacy News - Not Simply Divine - Gays versus God? May 7, 2021
Gays versus God? By
R. Douglas Elliott,* B.A., J.D.
Is
God against human rights? Do
gay rights mean the end of religious freedom? The
struggle over lesbian and gay equality has been characterized by Justice
Scalia as a “culture war” between gay rights groups and religious organizations.
There can be no doubt that major faith based organizations have been among
the most vocal opponents of gay and lesbian equality, and of same-sex
marriage. Despite their vigorous attacks on lesbian and gay equality,
they quite perversely seek to portray themselves as the victims of a war
on their own rights on God. The
language used by even our more mainstream religious opponents is sometimes
exceptionally offensive.
The Unfortunately,
appeals to God’s will have a sorry history
in supporting discrimination, including discrimination in marri Almighty
God created the races white, black, yellow, malay
and red, and he placed them on separate continents.
And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be
no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows
that he did not intend for the races to mix. Some
day, the religious arguments against same-sex marriage, advanced with
such fervor today, will sound just as ridiculous. It
is a source of great sadness to me that people of faith are among the
most vocal opponents of my human rights. Like Dr. King, Bishop Tutu, and
Mahatma Ghandi, there are many persons whose faith inspires them to support
human rights. In the case I won, the two
couples were married in the presence of their families and friends
in a Christian church, just like millions of Canadians before them. This
is not really a new debate. Ever since the concept of inalienable human
rights emerged in the 18th century, there have been three principal
schools of thought that continue to attract support today. There
are those who do not support the concept of human rights. Some do so because
they believe the law mast always reflect the will of the majority, without
regard to what Edmund Burke referred to as the “tyranny of the majority.”
However, many opponents of human rights do not rest their case on the
will of the majority, unless that majority happens to be comprised of
their co-religionists. Their opposition to Of
course, even before the Bill of Rights, William Penn and his Quakers came
to On
the opposite pole of this ancient debate, there are those who see organized
religion as the enemy of human rights. This was the philosophy of the
French Revolution that replaced churches with Temples of Reason. Resenting
the state’s role in enforcing Church doctrine, and under the leadership
of a gay aristocrat, they repealed French sodomy laws and replaced religious
marriage with purely civil marriage. In their view, equality rights had
to trump religious freedom. There lies a third way between these polar opposites. In
the western world, we live in secular democracies. Sadly, secularism has
become a dirty word in the eyes of some Christians. But what is the alternative?
Theocracy? Millions of humans have been tortured and killed
in the name of God. The combination of religious passion and state power
has a In
a secular democracy, there need be no conflict between being a person
of faith and having a commitment to human rights. It was sincere Christian
faith that motivated the English anti-slavery movement, for example. The
American model is a system that respects religion but preserves a “wall
of separation between Church and state”, as Long
ago, John Adams wrote these moving words:[42] The
doctrine of human equality is founded entirely in the Christian doctrine
that we are all children of the same Father, all accountable to Him for
our conduct to one another, all equally bound to respect each other’s
self love. The
idea of a secular democracy that ensures fundamental respect for freedom
of religion and equality for all was Under
the guise of religious freedom, and wrapped in the flag of patriotism,
Christian fundamentalists have embarked on a second American Revolution.
This revolution seeks to destroy the rule of law and to restore religious
tyranny in a way that has not been seen since the Puritans burned witches
at the stake. Knowing that the constitution protects This
internal revolution poses a threat to the worldwide gay and lesbian community.
The religious right in the Conclusion
Marriage
for same-sex couples is part of a trend that has been gaining momentum
in all Western democracies. It is a reality in two European countries,
and is likely to become a reality in all states that are members of the
European Union. It has become a legal reality in
*
Douglas Elliott is a partner with Roy Elliott Kim O’Connor LLP,
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