The Sacred Philosophy

Even though I wrote about the reasons why I don't vote Tuesday, I'm contemplating the act this Election Day. Virginia has a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on the ballot and I'd like to show my support against it (which is reason #2 if you read that post).

About half the electorate disagrees, making familiar arguments. But for the moment, forget that our culture isn't so fragile it will collapse because boys marry. Forget that homosexually actually is natural and it's marriage that isn't. Forget that the Bible commands Christians to "love thy neighbor." Forget that God (if there is one) wouldn't want us to limit an expression of love to anything less than all of us. The essential point is that America is fundamentally a land of free people.

Living in a free society demands that people put up with things they don't like. Your church doesn't have to marry gays but you don't get to make the rules for other churches, no matter how sad that makes you. There is no such thing as "freedom from others' freedom;" this was part of the sacred philosophy of the Founding Fathers. Ultimately, the ban is just wrong; it is unethical, unholy and un-American.