Groucho Marx and Gay Republicans

[howeird]

Something leatherapron posted recently reminded me that I wanted to do a mini rant.

It goes like this:

Why in blazes would anyone want to belong to a group which hates them?

The Bible is crystal clear that homosexuality is a capital crime. Why would a Gay person want to be a member of any religion which has that at its core?

The Republican Party is rooted firmly in those same teachings. Why would a Gay person want to be a member of that party?

I saw a posting on the Silicon Valley Atheists' message board asking for suggestions on people to officiate at an atheist wedding. Weddings are an artifact of religion - why would any atheist want a wedding ceremony?

Tangentially it all reminds me of that famous Grouch Marx quote, when he was invited to join an otherwise no-Jews-allowed country club, "I don't want to join any club which would accept me as a member"

Comments

sorry about the post

[leatherapron.livejournal.com]

Sorry I removed the gay Republican post before I read your post. I decided that it was cruel to make fun of someone's hairpiece (plus the post just wasn't all that funny). Had I known you were going to reference it I would have kept it. Anyway if anyone asks yes I had a gay Republican post.
I will think through your question and get back to you when I have something intelligent to say about it. To be honest I frequently question if religion is of any value. Sometimes I am in mind of the Woody Allen joke about the guy who tells his friend that his brother thinks he is a chicken. The friens asks, why don't you take your brother to a psychiatrist? the man replies,"we need the eggs." There are many reasons for associating with a religion (or a political party) that don't make sense, the emotional pull or the belief that even though the institution does a lot of bad it does a lot of good too.
Oh the Atheist marriage question. Patrical Neil Warren just published an article in the "Gay and Lesbian Review" wherein she argues that marriage has historically been a secular institution. I think that, besides the obvious financial benefits that our society offers married couples that it is desirable for some people to make a public declaration of their commitment to each other (and have a party to celebrate the same). I don't think that this desire is dependent on a belief in a diety.
Speaking of weddings, the Humanist Assocation has folks who can emcee a wedding for atheists.

Re: sorry about the post

[howeird]

No problem about the post, since I didn't refer to a specific one.

Patricia Neil Warren's claim about marriage originally being a secular institution is so full of crap I'm tempted to mail her a shovel. One of the primary reasons religions arose was to formalize family relationships. I'm not even talking about monogamy here - Biblical Judaism has no limit on the number of wives a man can have, nor does basic Buddhism. Witness the many wives of King Solomon and the kings of Siam. Islam allows multiple wives as well.

The humanists have officiators because they don't get it. The Clue Fairy needs to pay them a serious visit. The clue is this: when you leave the church, you don't bring its baggage along with you. Every county in the US has a perfect answer to the atheist who wants to formally and legally commit to a life partner - it's called a Justice of the Peace. And you don't have to have a wedding ceremony in order to throw a party for your friends to celebrate your life partnership commitment.

The latter is also true for gay couples. Maybe in time the former will also be true.