California's Proposition 8

Tuesday was a bad day in California for those in favor of same sex marriage. Now the law states that a marriage is the legal union between a man and woman.


Needless to say there has been a lot of commentary on both sides of this issue. I remember not to long ago when scores of couples, including a famous one or two, went forth to have their unions legally recognized. It will be interesting to see if the California State Supreme Court will dissolve those unions, or if they will be allowed them to remain legal. Of course, how can they be considered legal if they are against the law?


Of course the real question is does any government - be it federal, state or local - have the right to define what marriage is? Most states can't even agree on what age should be legal for consent to marriage.


The truth is that the "moral" tone of our country is set in our Christian/Judeo roots. Marriage in the Bible, be it Old or New testament, was always a union between a man and woman. Anything different was considered immoral.


For centuries the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was used as proof that God condemned same sex unions, after all, both cities were destroyed because the townsmen tried to "attack" the guests at Lot's home.


Like many, I believed and agreed with that mentality. For a long time I had a real problem with the concept of homosexuality, until I met some and discovered that they are everyday people who have an attraction to the same sex. I don't understand it, and I am still uncomfortable with displays of affection in public (of course I am not too good with heterosexual displays of affection in public) but I realized it was their life and as long as it didn't infringe on me, they had the same right as me to love and care for who they wanted.

I became a proponent of civil unions. My Catholic indoctrination still made me certain that marriage was union between a man and a woman. After all, for centuries the Church encouraged marriage for the procreation of good little Catholics (love didn't get involved until later on.)

Then I did a little research and discovered that maybe the folks of Sodom and Gomorrah had not been homosexuals, but that just maybe they had been violators of even more sacred obligation - Hospitality.

In the Middle East, and also in the tradition of many nomadic tribes, including the Indians of North and South American, is the time honored tradition of offering hospitality to the stranger in your mist. Once they have entered your town, village, encampment and you have broken bread and shared salt, you are obligated to protect them, even if they are your enemy. Things change once they are outside the area of your residences, but while they are there, the host is honor bound to protect them.

That being the case, was God's anger and wrath directed at the violation of this ancient code, rather than the idea of homosexuality? To this day in many cultures, hospitality is still a sacred honor.

With that new thought I decided that it was time for me to rethink my thoughts on the concept of marriage. Although it is still hard for me because of my background, I have come to the conclusion that no man made entity - be it government or church - has the right to tell any adult who they can and cannot marry. This has to be the choice of the couple involved.

As I have in the past I return to Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humane Vitae. The informed conscious of the adult individual has to be allowed to make the final decision.

In addition, this will now force me to reevaluate my thoughts on polygamy. I'll let you know what I come up with on that topic.

Jesus said to "love one another as I love you." We may not always agree or understand the decisions, life styles or desires of those around us, but as long as they respect us and our space, we need to respect them and their space.

Its Common Sense!