So far, I've asked some of the world's most radical animal rights activists about marrying pets, I've slammed religious folk who call homosexuality "close to pedophilia" and I've explained how polygamy is biblical, seeing as they like to say gay marriage will lead to that.
But another argument we're up against is that gay marriage will "destroy the sanctity of marriage".
The Sanctity of Marriage
In the video above, we can see Pat Robertson, a presenter on CBN (The Christian Broadcasting Network), telling a viewer to advise her friend to divorce his wife who has Alzheimer's. His co-presenter asks him why, reminding him of the marriage vows that constitute part of the sanctity of marriage. He responds by saying "yeah, well if you respect that vow...", if? But if we're married then we must respect our marriage vows, right?
These vows go something like this (they vary depending on the religion, but are essentially the same in all cases): "I, ____, take you, ____, to be my lawfully wedded (husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."
Robertson defends his statement saying Alzheimer's "is a kind of death". No it isn't, Pat. To be dead, there must be no pulse and no brain activity. According to the Wikipedia definition, 'death is the cessation or permanent termination of all biological functions that sustain a living organism'.
So if Robertson is advising we should break our marriage vows, then where's the sanctity of marriage in all of that? Surely by breaking the holy vows we would be destroying the sanctity of marriage? You may be asking, "what is the 'sanctity of marriage' anyway?"
sanc·ti·ty/ˈsaNG(k)titÄ“/
Noun:
- The state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly.
- Ultimate importance and inviolability.
Synonyms:
So there it is. Pat Robertson, Christian, CBN presenter, bible basher and hypocrite, is advising us all to break the sanctity of marriage by renouncing to our vows when our partner falls ill, even though we promised before God never to do such a thing when we married them.
If you want to watch more of Robertson, whether you're in the mood for a laugh or just want to get angry about something, click here to go to his YouTube playlist.
But are these people seriously worried about the sanctity of marriage, or is there something else behind this fight? Some people think there is. Jay Bookman is a blogger on an Atlanta news website, ajc.com. Earlier this month, Bookman suggested there was a link between the North Carolina GOP platform and anti-gay arguments about the sanctity of marriage. He quoted the following from the state GOP platform.
“Government should treat all citizens impartially, without regard to wealth, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, sex, political affiliation or national origin. We oppose all forms of invidious discrimination. Sexual orientation is not an appropriate category.”
-- GOP platform, North Carolina
So by being sexually attracted to the opposite sex, you are not to be considered an as a valued citizen as your heterosexual counterparts. Not to mention that gender doesn't appear anywhere in this statement. That pretty much sums them up; they're narrow-minded and don't know what they're talking about.
Furthermore, the sanctity of marriage is already being destroyed as we speak. No, I'm not talking about the countries or the states where same-sex marriage is legal because nothing has changed in those places since its legalization. What I'm talking about is divorce. Why was divorce legalized if every time a couple signs the papers they are destroying the sanctity of marriage by removing and violating the holiness and ultimate importance of their vows?
According to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri, 40 to 50% of all marriages in America end in divorce. The rate increases even more when it comes to second marriages (with 67% of those ending in a second divorce), and third marriages (with 74% of those ending in a third divorce) (S). With this number of divorces breaking the sanctity of marriage, where's the 'massive threat' that Christians talk about when it comes to same-sex marriage? Gay people make up a very small proportion of the population, and not all of them even want to get married. Christians are brewing up a storm in a teacup when it comes to this argument. It doesn't hold out and therefore we can assume that we're outright winning this fight. If this is what they have to resort to, then it's clear they can see they're losing.
So where exactly is the sanctity of marriage nowadays? If we are advised by Pat Robertson to leave our sick partners, homosexuals are called "lesser-than" by political parties who are fighting for it, and we're allowed to divorce, which, that alone, is eating away at the idea of marriage itself? I'll let you decide.
As for Clint Eastwood, he made his stance clear in an interview for GQ magazine back in October 2011. Go on, call him gay. I dare you.
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