Apparently, Stupidity Doesn't Stop For Christmas

I can only shake my head after reading this little gem. It seems that some of the Vatican's Cardinals have been "warning" women against marrying into Islam. Besides the jaw-dropping stupidity of such a statement, it goes still further in reinforcing my long-held mistrust of institutional religion. Once again, the Catholic Church has opened its mouth and revealed a seething mass of festering bigotry lurking beneath the surface. Along with this gem of illogic recently unleashed, one can only wonder at what must pass for logic in the rarefied atmosphere of the Vatican's inner circles.

I realize that cross-cultural marriage is a high risk venture - one can never be sure what the outcome will be, but then again, no marriage is a sure thing. (if it was, divorce and anullments would never happen, right?)

Then, in traipsing through the various news sources I inspect from time to time, I found the following "letter to the editor" on the National Post:

National Post

Published: Monday, December 26, 2005

Re: The 'Ethnics' Of Gay Marriage (II), letter to the editor, Dec. 21.

William Mitchell writes, "A very immoral and insidious force in our society is the continuing hatred and persecution of homosexual people."

It would help the public debate considerably if Mr. Mitchell and those who share his opinion would look in a dictionary for the proper meaning of those words. Reasoned debate around the homosexual marriage question isn't even possible if its proponents resort to hysterical accusations every time they don't get their way. Most Canadians are tired of their Orwellian attempts to redefine words such as "hatred," "persecution" and "marriage."

S.R. Hamilton, Calgary.

I have no idea who S.R. Hamilton is, nor do I care frankly. When he starts talking about "resorting to hysterical accusations when they don't get their way", I thought "look in the mirror, pal". Remember, it's the vaunted Stephen Harper who said he'd hold yet another vote on marriage.

This person should go read Section 15(1) of the Charter of Rights:

15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.

I think this section of the charter is quite clear indeed. As I have stated before, the government does not define the spiritual notion of marriage, it defines the legal definition of it. I don't much care what churches do internally - that's a matter of theology, and while I may think it phenomenally stupid, I respect their right to believe it. The government does not have such a luxury in the realm of law. Rulings around common-law marriage, CPP survivor benefits - and others - have made the discrimination case quite clear.

S.R. Hamilton goes on to worry that the gay rights movement is redefining the terms "hatred" and "persecution". This is spoken by someone who has never experienced - or witnessed - the narrow-minded idiocy of the civil rights opposition movement. When groups like Concerned Christians Canada Ltd. complain about a few flags on 17th Ave within a mere few days of the Gay Pride parade, that's a clue to the kind of narrow-minded bigotry that is often levelled at a minority population to keep them "in their place".

And I thought this was the season of charity - silly me.