We all vote based on our principles, regardless of where we obtained those principles. I am missing your point as to why voting based on religious principles is any less valid or less democratic than voting based on the principles held by a non-religious person.
But I wasn't talking about voting. I said why should a society govern - in other words, why should laws be enacted - based on the principles of one group in society? I'm making a philosophical point here based on the principles of democracy. Yes, the majority of Americans identify as having religious beliefs (and I won't get into the fact that there is no one set of beliefs shared by everyone who identifies as being religious), but one key safeguard in a democratic society is that the majority does not always rule - there have to be protections for minorities. This is why I make the point, and I firmly believe, that one set of values not shared by an entire community or society shouldn't necessarily be imposed on that community or society as a whole - especially if the majority group in society still has its own rights protected anyway.
Terry, thanks for clarifying your earlier post, which had me a bit confused. You know we simply won't agree on the nature v choice debate around homosexuality, which of course affects where we're both coming from here. None of the gay people I know believe that their orientation is a matter of choice. They simply
are attracted to people of the same sex as themselves. So, no, I don't agree that the discussion should start at 'personal choice'. But, yes, I think we are on the same page on the fact that you will find crazies and extremists everywhere, and that these reactiond do not reflect the views and behaviours of the majority of reasonable people on either side.
You know, this does remind me of similar debates and struggles over inter-racial marriage; the arguments were in many ways similar there. These days, I don't think anyone on these boards would argue that a mixed-race couple shouldn't be allowed to marry - just as, in the country of my birth, not many people would object to marriage between a Protestant and a Catholic any more, yet while I was growing up and before I was born what was referred to as 'mixed marriages' were seen as abhorrent and in some cases led to murders. I truly believe that in 20 years' time same-sex marriage will be virtually a non-issue.
But it's going to be a difficult adjustment period on all sides until that happens.
Wendy
