Barry at Alas diligently prepped for the gay marriage debate, with all his most compelling arguments in hand. And then ...
Roleplaying the part of someone opposed to same-sex marriage, I explained that I didn’t think that there was anything wrong with gay sex or gay relationships per se., but that I was concerned with how changing the definition of marriage would alter the country’s already fragile marriage culture. If there’s no longer a special status set aside for generative relationships, how will we continue to say that every child needs and deserves a father and a mother?
My roleplaying partner was bewildered, and scanned through the sheet of suggested responses to common arguments without finding anything helpful.
Later, once I was on the phone talking to real-life opponents of same-sex marriage, it became apparent why such intellectual arguments against marriage equality hadn’t been included on Basic Right Oregon’s cheat sheet.
It’s because those arguments never came up.
What I heard, over and over, from opponents of same-sex marriage is that they’re against it because “that’s what the Bible says.”
That’s what all but two opponents of SSM I spoke to said. Other callers seemed to have a similar experience. ...
Go read the rest at the link, to find out what conclusion he came to on the marriage debate. I have a feeling he's right.
Amy Alkon at Advice Goddess praises the Federal Court for overturning a $550,000 fine demanded by the FCC against CBS for the notorious Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction. Heck, we didn't even get to see a nipple.
The Times of India reports that India falls behind every South Asian country except Afghanistan in gender equality. Not a distinction to be happy about.
Failed Messiah has some thoughts on Rabbi Slifkin and post-Hardi Judaism. On the subject of former Haredi ("ultra-orthodox") Jews, Rabbi Natan Slifkin writes at the JPost:
[Post-haredi Jews] are regular Orthodox Jews who no longer subscribe to haredi ideology. Some post-haredim remain in the haredi community, either due to inertia or due to their valuing their social ties and community.
Others secede, changing their manner of dress and moving into different social and cultural frameworks.
There is no clear line between more moderate haredim (such as many Anglo-haredim) and post-haredim; in Betar and Beit Shemesh, the revolutionary Tov political party rejects the haredi system of rabbinic authority, and is supported by a spectrum of people ranging from moderate haredi to post-haredi.
Shmarya comments:
All I'll say about this is that the 'non-simple' faith Rabbi Slifkin advocates only works because inconvenient facts that raise even more inconvenient questions which can't be answered by the methods Rabbi Slifkin advocates are pushed offed to the side and left 'unanswered' – which really means that science has long since proved the Torah false in many ways.
