One of my fellow bloggers, Deacon Scott Dodge in Salt Lake City, has written a wonderful post www.scottdodge.blogspot.com on the same-sex marriage issue that is threatening to engulf us all. I encourage you to link over and read it. Deacon Dodge has been maintaining a blog for many years and is a very insightful, literate man.
As you may be aware, even though Utah had passed an amendment to their state constitution defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman, and passed that amendment overwhelmingly, a federal judge ruled it unconstitutional based on the due process clauses in the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution. A similar ruling occurred in New Mexico. This is the wave of the future, I fear. It is a repeated expression of what I continually deem “muddy thinking” on the part of so many, the inability or refusal to think critically (in the classic sense of that word), the inability or refusal to understand distinctions, and worse, in my opinion, the inability or refusal to tolerate those who have well-reasoned positions that have passed the test of centuries but may be politically incorrect for the past few years. The confusion of human rights with sexual behavior; the confusion of human dignity with unlimited demands for self-determination at the expense of the most vulnerable members of society and the foundations of society; the confusion of self-direction with other-direction.
As Archbishop Cordileone has said, “It is not ‘Is there a government interest in not recognizing alternative types of relationships as marriage?’, but rather, ‘Is there a public interest in societal recognition and regulation of the only kind of relationship that brings children into the world?’ Every human society in history has recognized that there is. By losing sight of this fundamental reality, confusion and error triumph.” (Italics mine)
Even though recent events are very concerning, I want to conclude with this: There is no reason to lose hope, especially in the present season of the coming and the birth of Jesus Christ. He is our hope and to him we cling always with the assurances of his promises, his presence, and his grace. This is the joyful message, the Evangelii Gaudium of which Pope Francis speaks and he challenges us to live in hope by proclaiming Jesus to the world each and every day.
I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.
