Comments on: Religious Freedom and Same-sex Marriage

By: Hubbard

Hubbard — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:57:17 +0000

Robert—

I agree with you, although since I’m not a lawyer I can’t sign off on a friend of the court brief.

Geoff—

Having the first amendment on his side didn’t help Mitch McConnell against McCain-Feingold. You underestimate the insanity of litigation.

By: Apollo

Apollo — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 02:26:32 +0000

The vast resources of the papists, combined with the first amendment, have a great track record when going up against gay rights litigation.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:30:11 +0000

Hubbard — I think you underestimate the resources of the Catholic Church, especially with the 1st Amendment on its side.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:30:00 +0000

Hubbard -
if SSM is legalized, and as a result, a gay Catholic sues the church to force it to perform a marriage, I go on record as promising to sign onto an amicus curiae brief attesting that I believe the plaintiff to be a fool and an ass.

And I say this as someone raised Catholic, who would probably be an utterly insufferable scroop today if I hadn’t turned out gay.

By: Hubbard

Hubbard — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:43:21 +0000

Geoff—

I think you underestimate the litigiousness of the gay rights crowd. Your common sense approach has no place in courts.

Robert—

Protestant churches are a bit different. If you’re not happy at one, you can always go to another. For a certain type of Catholic, however, there’s only the one true church. I know several gay Catholics who want to get married, and I can see at least one of them filing a lawsuit over it. Depending on where it’s filed and how it’s argued, a lawsuit against the Catholic church regarding same-sex marriage could win. And that would infringe on religious liberty.

By: Geoffrey

Geoffrey — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:57:47 +0000

Catholic churches are not now required to ordain women or give Communion to atheists; I am not sure why a different standard would apply here.

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:34:15 +0000

Well, if my sister and her husband had wanted to get married in a Catholic church, they would not have been able to.

He’s not Catholic, and they wouldn’t have been willing to do the various things that people have to do to qualify; e.g., he would not have converted, they would not have agreed to raise their children (if any) as Catholic, etc.

If my husband and I had wanted to get married in a Catholic church (for some reason) we would not have been able to.

We’d have had no more legal standing to sue over that they would have had.

Curious detail on the ‘religious freedom’ angle – when we were first married in 1997, the ceremony was officiated by a Baptist minister. Although he and his congregation were entirely in support of our wedding and marriage, he was prohibited by law from ‘officially’ marrying us.
Apparently, his religious freedom was not an issue.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:01:33 +0000

Wait, what?

By: Hubbard

Hubbard — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:36:42 +0000

Larry—

Au revoir.

By: Larry Sheldon

Larry Sheldon — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:49:12 +0000

How does George Bush figure in this?

sign me Ex Reader