Pure Concentrated Evil?

According to the Pope, same-gender marriage is "evil".

Homosexual marriages are part of "a new ideology of evil" that is insidiously threatening society, Pope John Paul says in his newly published book.

Wow - that's a pretty strong condemnation. Personally, I can't figure out what's "evil" about two people in love making a commitment to each other. Of course, this is coming from the same Church that has in the past asserted that women were essentially Succubi sent to tempt men.

The CBC article says even more:

"It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man," he writes.

"We have to question the legal regulations that have been decided in the parliaments of present-day democracies. The most direct association which comes to mind is the abortion laws."

"Parliaments which create and promulgate such laws must be aware that they are transgressing their powers and remain in open conflict with the law of God and the law of nature."

My, and I thought Stephen Harper managed to associate things that unrelated together.

First, abortion law and same-gender marriage? What the heck is that about?

I can't speak to the "law of God" - I don't profess to be God's representative on Earth - I'll leave that dubious honor to the Pope himself. As for the "law of nature", that I can speak to. If one thing is clear today, we will never "fully" understand the "law of nature". The world is infinitely complex in its manifestation, and infinitely variable. Therefore, it follows that if people can, and do, vary substantially from one another, then it seems quite reasonable to assert that sexual variation is perfectly valid to expect. Therefore, sexuality is not inherently evil. (I will assert that sex involving minors is unquestionably damaging - but pedophelia is not the topic of conversation here).

The APA is pretty clear about sexual identity - it happens to all of us, and we're all unique in our experiences. So, the "law of nature" is hardly being upended by same-gender couples, much less by same-gender couples entering into the legal contract of marriage.

Garething's commentary on the subject was rather interesting - he raised the point that Canada, and especially Alberta seems rather inclined to ape the behaviour of the United States - usually the least desirable of those behaviours. He raised the very valid worry that some sub-genius legislator may try to legislate morality for us once again.

I have no doubt that his worries are quite valid - I'm sure that Stephen Harper, Stockwell Day or Jason Kenney would be all too happy to boot-lick the Christian Reich in many dimensions. However, the legal framework of this country is such that any legislation of that nature is virtually guaranteed to be very short lived. Either it will be declared unconstitutional under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or will have to be reinforced by the invocation of the "notwithstanding clause".

In the first case, the law vanishes into obscurity rather quickly. In the second case, the 5 year time fuse on the notwithstanding clause guarantees that the country will be dragged into the debate raw every five years. Few politicians have the stomach to revisit debates as polarizing as same-gender marriage or minority rights of any sort on a regular basis - it's a good way to turn an ordinary career into a spectacular disaster. If the declaration of the 'notwithstanding' clause is not renewed, then the law falls pretty much immediately on the first challenge.

The notwithstanding clause serves no other purpose than to temporarily defer the debate a few years. No more, no less.

The other thing that Garething's comments raised was the question of whether the anti-same-gender-marriage campaign in Canada is being bankrolled by American organizations. The answer to that is an unequivocal 'yes'. It was all over the news a couple of weeks ago.

As far as I can tell, the fearmongers that oppose same-gender marriages so vocally are mostly scared that someone might tempt them, or their children, to "become" gay. Nice thing to worry about - and just what are some of these holier-than-thou types going to do when their adult son or daughter comes home and says "Mom, Dad, I'm ..., and I'd like you to meet my partner".