Marriage and the End of the World

On Monday I was listening to NPR, as I usually do, and they had a clip about the statement Pope Benedict the something made from the Vatican about the church's stance on gay marriage. I must say I was rather shocked to hear their view. He made the statement that we must "save the world from homosexuality and transsexual behavior" and further stated that it was "self-destructive to mankind." Claims from the church have also stated that same-sex marriages would bring an end to the mankind since it is only a man and a woman that can reproduce to keep the Earth populated.

The Mundane View
It appears that the Vatican as well as many other religious organizations have some homophobic fear that if we allow same-sex couples to marry that everyone in the world will become gay and marry and that there will be no more reproduction. If same-sex marriage is legalized in my state or country, I am certainly not going to divorce my husband and marry my best girlfriend. Why is this view clinched to so tightly? There is a small percentage of people in the world that would define themselves as homosexuals and of that population an even smaller amount that desire to get married. Certainly this small population of people could not bring about the extinction of mankind as Pope Benedict fears it may. So it seems that there must be another reason for not allowing same-sex marriages other than it will "destroy mankind." (which by the way we should probably be PC and say humankind, but it is not my statement...)

What do I think is the reason we will not allow same-sex marriages? One word describes it... DESCRIMINATION against a minority group of people. Same way Black Americans have been descriminated against, or women, or any other oppressed group in history. Is it wrong to be a different nationality? Certainly not, so why is it wrong to be a different sexuality? I think it is because people fear what they cannot comprehend. Then they choose diferent artifacts to stand behind that "back up their opinions" and "prove that it is wrong." One example is the Bible. It has been the center of defense against anti-homosexuality. But I see it misquoted constantly and people use certain parts of the Bible for their own beliefs yet omitt the one that do not fit into their neatly formed constructs of what is good and what is not good. And it really bothers me when people solely referrence the Old Testament. In the New Testament Jesus redefines Christianity and says that love is the path to God. But people interpret love to mean what they want it to mean. Love between a man and a woman. I am sure if I had the time I could do some research on commonly quoted scripture and find all sorts of references and how they condem this or that, but if love is the message why is that the one that has been forgotten? Maybe soon we will have the next big civil rights movement and I always think that it will be either the mentally ill population (which I am sure I will write about soon) or the homosexual population. A revolution is already brewing in California... hopefully we do not continue to oppress these PEOPLE!