Thoughts on Gay Marriage

To begin with I do understand that this issue is touchy as hell for a lot of people. The whole question of marriage has gotten tied up with the issue of equality, which is separate because marriage is largely a religious institution in this country. I will try to approach it with more
tact that I normally do.

I think one of the best things the gay movement could do in this situation would be to differentiate between legal marriage and church marriage. Legal marriage is a status that brings with it certain tax breaks, insurance coverage, legal powers and other tangible and very real benefits. This is what the movement should be pushing for, and all the movement should be pushing for. Under this concept of marriage your spouse is simply a live-in and hopefully permanent roommate with a shared income. There's no reason that gay couples shouldn't be allowed this; the difference between a two-gender legal marriage and single-gender legal marriage is essentially nil, since the state really should not be concerned with whether or not there is sex occuring within the marriage. None of their business. Of course, certain provisions of legal marriage are there for children and those should be given only to couple with children, whether adopted, from previous marriages, or produced withing the marriage.

Church marriage, on the other hand, is a religious institution and decisions about this are not in the hands of the government. Gay couples should not push to have their marriage recognized by the church. It's a losing battle and ultimately unimportant since it does not bring with it any tangible benefits. There are certain recognitions that come with it but these recognitions are less important than those that would be created by the government recognising single gender unions. Pushing the church to recognise same-sex couples is, in the end, no different than churches pushing gay people to become heterosexual. You can't change peoples' minds in topics like this, especially not large and indoctrinated groups of people.

So, in my opinion, gay people should be able to get fully legal state-recognised marriage licenses and churches should be able to decide who they do and do not want to recognise.

The strangest rumors get started about me

I was outside having a smoke with this guy that I've talked to a couple of times and he's out there with his friend. His friend is looking at me with these big eyes the whole time and it's making me, you know, a little uncomfortable. We're talking about the weather and such and his friend bursts out with "You're a hynotist?" I guess some guy named Tim told him I was a hypnotist. I don't understand where this came from.

I am not a hynotist, stage magician, or charlatan of any sort any more than I am circumcised.

"The only good Atheist is a dead Atheist."

When leaving the courtroom the 'Christian' Shelton family lay in wait for us in the hallway. Their tears dried, they surrounded us shouting these comments: "The one good thing of all of this is that another Atheist is dead and the world is better off for it" and "The only good Atheist is a dead Atheist."

Story Here

To explain...

In order to pre-answer the question "James, what was that outburst about?" I will point you to

The Secret

Now that website, and the movie contained therein, is made up of some of the softest thinking I have ever seen. It stars a combination of wishful new-age positive mumbo jumbo with a nice helping of misinterpreted theoretical physics. Silly, silly, silly. The idea that the human mind could have effects on the physical universe beyond manipulating the body to reach out and move something is stupid. Frankly, plainly, clearly stupid. If this works for one person it will fail for nine. And the people they casted to give statement! The co-author of "Chicken Soup for the Soul"? A peddler of anecdotes and homespun frippery. The author of "Men are from Mars etc."? A carnival salesman with a cart full of bottles of simple advice and compressed stereotype.

Anyone that tells you that they know how to fix your life is trying to sell you something. Anyone. God, man, or angel, they're trying to give you a product and get more from you than it cost them to produce their product. That's not atheism. It's capitalism.

So what's that little badge thing on the side there mean?

Well, this is obviously not for people that pick this up on an RSS. But if you look at the actual side instead of some abomination of it, you'll see a little badge down on the right that says I'm a member of somethin' called the "Rationalist Response Squad."

So what's that mean? It means I'm out, or as much further out as I can be. It's yet another public testament to the fact that I don't believe in Jesus, Odin, Vishnu, Allah, the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, ghosts, goblins, faith healing, ESP, Uri Geller, magic, souls, reincarnation, heaven, hell, purgatory, nirvana, or any other fairy tale that humans make up so that they can pay a little less attention to the important, material things that surround us. I don't believe in distractions or excuses, I believe man is ultimately accountable to himself and that there is no stupider reason to do something than "God made me do it," whether those actions are good and bad. I believe that religion and spirituality and mysticism are ultimately limiting and negative forces on the world. I believe that every time a Christian says "the rapture is coming soon" they're saying "let's keep using all the oil." That every time a Mormon wakes someone up before noon they're commiting a crime. That every time a Pagan burns a candle and dances around a campfire they're wasting their time in the most explicit manner possible.

I deny the Holy Spirit, which according the Bible is an unforgivable sin. Don't hold much water with you non-christians out there but I'll tell ya what, any of you send me something to say in public that will have the same affect with your invisible friends drop me a line and I'll get on it.

Why I don't blog more

Yeah, so I'm not the most volluminous person on these here interwebs. It happens, yes? The important thing to keep in mind is that 90% of the things posted onto these tubes is pure, outright complaining. Occasionally somebody honestly has something bad happen to them and they're putting it out there. Often it's just mediocre silly things that aren't actually unique or of any interest whatsoever.

Bad things don't happen to me. In spite of the ups and downs of life, and my reputation as a negative asshole, I tend to be rather glass-half-full in my day to day life and when something negative happens I gloss over it or move on or do something with it to make it not seem so bad. With this tragic loss of drama in my life I don't have much to write about in here that would not be more suited to my offline handwritten journal.

So who's got some drama for me? Does anyone want to pick a fight? Does anyone think the internet is serious business enough that they feel like started some long-term spat that I can write about? Please?