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Saturday, January 12, 2013


On the National Organization for Marriage website, NOM answers questions supposedly posed to them by the opposition.

The question to NOM, Number 9 What about older or infertile couples? If they marry why not same-sex couples?
NOM's Answer: “Every man and woman who marries is capable of giving any child they create (or adopt) a mother and a father. No same-sex couple can do this. It’s apples and oranges.”

The emphasis that NOM places on the priority of a mom and dad seems to me tantamount to idolatry.  "I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other parenting options before me."  As with all idolatry, serving a false god not only ends in slavery to it, but keeps one from the true God; in this case, the God who supports all people of good will, and calls us all to do the same.  Certainly NOM is slavishly committed to only mom and dad as parents.  Too bad for children, because the world is full of kids that need the love of an adult of any orientation that will never find it if NOM has its way.  Fortunately NOM's influence is waning; the arc of justice is bending in favor of other options for parenting.

What is the source of this idolatry?  One need not speculate; it is a fundamentalist understanding of the Bible. Their statements over the years are filled with appeal to their notion of God's intention for the family.  Funny, but the Bible is not the holy repository of "only a mom and a dad" theology.  A strong case can be made (and I will make it in a future posting) that Jesus was not a fan of the nuclear family, and the apostle Paul preferred his followers not marry at all.  And his stated reason for marrying (as a last resort) was not for procreation, but to keep from lustful sinning!  

Now, what about older or infertile couples?  They certainly fall into the acceptable category of NOM's rightful parents.  They will likely never be mother or father to any children that issue from that marriage. Let me put it another way.  People who never will be parents are allowed to marry.  Many same-sex couples will never be parents, either.  So under what possible reasoning can we withhold marriage from them?  

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This is the last of this series on NOM's questions and answers.  I've responded to all the questions they posted on their "Get Informed/Frequently Asked Questions" webpage.  If you found these helpful, give a shout-out to your friends. If you did not find them helpful, respond to me and we'll take it from there.  Regardless, I wish you all well.

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