This posting is the second part of a larger one and was sent out as a US group mailing prior to posting here on the Thalamus Center - Revised January 31. 2012
"We can't afford to have
two kinds of citizens,
We must have
equal citizenship for anybody in our country."
Eleanor Roosevelt
Ku Klux Klan put a bounty of $25,000 on
Eleanor Roosevelt’s head
because they didn't want her
teaching people how to protest discrimination. 1958
GAY MARRIAGE - Benedict XVI Dismisses Science Reason – Natural Law | Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely | PART 1
Summary of PART 1
Benedict XVI and the hierarchy have used the concept of Natural Law to condemn Gay Marriage (same-sex marriage) even going so far as to state that it threatens the future of humanity. However, such statements are an established precedent of Benedict XVI and hierarchy to be vague and unclear, because they fail to substantiate their negative statements against gay marriage and their understanding of homosexual orientation. Benedict XVI and hierarchy’s negative statements against gay marriage are void of any coherency connected to the authoritative research data (substantiated evidence over time based on internationally respected leading experts) in science and biblical studies have concluded that homosexuality is a normal part of human development and it is not condemned by the bible.
PART 1 gives an overview of different perspectives and critiques of the concept of Natural Law. It is noted that Natural Law is ambiguous and is often misunderstood and incorrectly applied to situations. Natural Law is considered by some to be unchangeable and any changes would cause destruction of the humanity. Others flatly refute such statements declaring that Natural Law is “rhetorical nonsense,” and “nonsense upon stilts.” Others argue that the understanding that all Law is rooted in Natural law is a false impression that instead it based on the arbitrary will of a sovereign. The validity of Natural Law is challenged, because the idea that “natural law founded on reason and rational inquiry has been virtually lost.” To “…stress that the very existence of a natural law discoverable by reason is a potentially powerful threat to the status quo and a standing reproach to the reign of blindly traditional custom or the arbitrary will of the State apparatus.”
Read more from PART 1
Introduction
Part 2
The importance of acquiring a well-informed conscience is essential to understanding and deciding whether or not to support gay marriage. I sent out a letter to all the New York State Senators on June 7, 2011, while they were in the process of voting to legalize gay marriage. The reason that I sent the letter was because the NY Senators were being pressured by the NY Catholic Bishops to vote against the gay marriage bill, as reported in the news media. However, the NY Catholic Bishops public arguments against gay marriage were incoherent and their political threats against any NY Senators who supported the gay marriage bill were extreme and unrealistic. They were anything but what most Catholics believe to be true Catholicism, as the polls indicated. The NY Catholic bishops crossed the line of the concept of the “separation of Church and State.” Gay marriage is a civil rights issue. After I sent the letter, the NY Catholic bishops increased their pressure. I felt the NY Senators were being treated most unfairly by the NY Catholic Bishops. I was surprised how deeply I could identify with the treatment they were receiving because it what I had to contend with when I decided to “come out” to my parishioners in March 1997 for the sake of children who grow up gay. Then I placed on Thalamus Center, June 20, 2011 an additional note I wrote to my letter that I sent, as to what you can do when you find yourself unexpectedly in such a situation of great gravity - knowing that your decision is likely to affect an incalculable number of human lives, especially children. I explained that it begins with acquiring a well-informed conscience (I explain more below). One element that I missed in the formation of a well-informed conscience, besides scripture scholars, and science was the concept of “Natural Law.” In Part 2, I try to give some different views on Natural Law concerning Gay Marriage. This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive listing on such a complex subject. But this and the information in PART 1 on Natural Law maybe is helpful as a place to start and to learn more.
Written by
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
GAY MARRIAGE – Understanding – NATURAL LAW & How it can be used? – With or Without - Reason & Rational |To Support - Benedict XVI & Hierarchy’s Vague & Negative Statements Against Homosexuality |
PART 2
WELL-INFORMED CONSCIENCE
Protect Religious Freedom – but not Tyranny in Religion
June 20, 2011
The way to begin for us all, not only the NY State Senators, to protect Religious Freedom and not Tyranny in Religion is by obtaining a well-informed conscience. We start by individually approaching and studying in (great detail because it involves the lives of children) from the best and the brightest (1) scripture scholars regarding the references related to homosexuality and (2) scientists in the field of study of human sexuality, in particular, but [not] limited to, the onset of sexual orientation. The prerequisite to the formation of a well-informed conscience is making a thorough study of all sides of the issue from all available authoritative data and research, including opposing views. Then in this way we are better equipped to decide who and what needs government protection in regards to the gay marriage bill. This exhaustive procedure follows to the letter the Gospel quotation about the “plank” and the” speck.”
“How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye”. Luke 6:42
The “plank” for us is ignorance. If we satisfactorily resolve this ignorance, then together we will be able to see more clearly, whether or not, as NY State Senators (government officials) and as citizens we are colluding with the Catholic Hierarchy and are harming children, as was found to be the case in the Ireland Murphy Report.
Written by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
To The New York Republican Senators
The Importance of Acquiring a Well-Informed Conscience
On The Issue of Gay Marriage – June 20, 2011
This piece of legislation the gay marriage bill is not like any other in that it involves the well-being of children, at its very root. You have been given a “hot potato” because children do not have a voice to protect them, you are, and we are their voices. The responsibility that is involved in this gay marriage is tremendous and overwhelming. I know this because this is the same “hot potato” that landed in my lap, March 1997. If you run from this responsibility, you will live with unending regret that you allowed innocent children to be continually harmed knowing that you had one chance in a lifetime to do something extraordinary for the well-being of children and people around the world. If you face and accept this responsibility of protecting children, you risk your political career, indeed your very life, as you know it. However, when I came out to my great surprise it was successful at my parish - Holy Family Catholic Parish, Sparta, Michigan and this was 1997. I think that for the NY State Republican Senators today 2011 - the social climate as polls indicate is significantly better than it was in 1997 with the majority of Catholics now accepting gay marriage. The reverse may be truer today for NY State Republican Senators that “not supporting gay marriage” could have an adverse effect on your political career.
I believe this to be true – because gay marriage (human sexuality, sexual orientation) is like Galileo it is about the true facts of science. Condemning Galileo showed real ignorance on the part of the Vatican, which Pope John Paul II confirmed and apologized for in 1992. Even though, it is indeed a most unfair situation to be placed in. How I resolved this situation was through hours upon hours of continuous prayer. Afterwards, I came to the realization that my life had already been altered – changed forever. Because there was no way I could pretend I did not know what I knew, how severely children are harmed for life by the unsubstantiated antigay teachings and antigay social norms. I decided that I could not live with the regret knowing that I had a chance to make a profound difference for the better for others, most especially children and that I did nothing. My life would be nothing. I took the bungee jump and I came out to my parishioners. It definitely was not easy, but one thing that happened to me is - I gained a real sense of peace and well-being that has remained constant and unshaken. The scripture passages that kept repeating over and over in my head were:
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” Matthew 16:25
“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?” Luke 9:25
“Anyone who loves their FATHER or mother more than me is not worthy of me;… Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:36-38
“…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:6
Even after Benedict XVI and his accomplices’ mistreatment of me and the serious harm they have caused me that sense of peace has never left me. It is remains rock solid. I believe that is the benefit of spending the time and energy of acquiring a well-informed conscience regarding sexual orientation.
Written by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Read more:
Read more:
Natural Law - Oblivious to the IMMEDIACY
Saving Children
Antigay Social Environment
Sexual Orientation – Early Childhood Psychological Development
A crucial point that is consistently understudied and therefore completely overlooked in discussion of Natural Law, which is the known research data that explains how sexual orientation is established either just before birth or very soon afterwards of a child’s life. Once a child’s sexual orientation is established it is resistant to change and remains constant throughout a child’s lifetime. A child’s sexual orientation is the means of how a child forms significant attachments to other human beings. It is an innate need in every human being “to love and to be loved” by another human being. This is essential for every human being to becoming fully human. Research has shown that children beginning in early childhood who grow up gay in antigay social environment disrupts this basic human need “to be one with another being, to love and to be loved” impacting the child’s life severely to the point of being life threatening to the child.
Lifetime Battlefield of Ongoing Antigay Harsh Discrimination
Beginning in Early Childhood Years
It is important to able to look at all sides of the issue of Natural Law and Gay Marriage though it is not easy. This is especially true for those us who have suffered so much and witnessed so much antigay explicit and implicit cruelty inflicted on to other LGBT adults and children. Those of us LGBT adults having metaphorically been undeservedly on a lifetime battlefield of harsh antigay discrimination it is understandable that whenever we are being exposed to the coldness and insensitively of the ignorance of those who use Natural Law concepts to condemn gay marriage that we would react quickly and forcefully to their negativity. This is because it brings back faster than the speed of light an overwhelming flooding of painful feelings of inhuman cruelty that we endured. I would be willing to speculate that the bulk of these painful feelings are unidentified as related to any particular events in our lives that we can remember.
For me, I found that the bulk of these painful feelings come from antigay situations and events experienced throughout early childhood years that were overwhelming as child. Therefore these painful feelings were instantly forgotten separating from the antigay event or situation. These painful feelings were forgotten, at least from consciousness. However, they are deposited in the unconscious part of the mind, where they remain alive and active until they are unearthed, identified and reconnected to the particular antigay event or situation that caused them.
Written by:
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Written by:
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Groundbreaking Research on Family Rejection of
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Children
January 2009
Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics
Dr. Caitlin Ryan is the head of the Family Acceptance Project and is responsible for the “Groundbreaking Research on Family Rejection of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Adolescents Establishes Predictive Link to Negative Health Outcomes” which was published in the January 2009 issue of Pediatrics, journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “For the first time, researchers have established a clear link between rejecting behaviors of families towards lesbian, gay and bisexual adolescents and negative health problems in early adulthood.”
Read more:
Family Acceptance of LGBT Youth Protects Against Suicide, Depression & Substance Abuse and Predicts Better Health & Self-Esteem
SEXUAL ORIENTATION is less about sex and more about Love, being one with another human being. Attachment Theory - LOVE & RELIGION - by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz - April 30, 2009
Nothing in life is more precious than the intimate relationships we have with love ones. Healthy love relationships delight us give us confidence to take on challenges and support us in difficult times…
GAY MARRIAGE -> Restoring -> "Hope of Love" To Children In Early Childhood | March 23, 2010 - by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Marriage Equality, like Galileo, is the truth about the facts of growing up gay. Marriage Equality will not become a reality until people learn that its most vital purpose is that it restores the “hope of love” to children in early childhood – essential to their development and well-being for life.
Without Marriage Equality we teach children how to hate love and how to be mean and indifferent to people as adults. With all due respect, without Marriage Equality we would teach them in much the same way as has been shown by Benedict XVI and the hierarchy, especially in their lack of care and protection of children for decades.
Letters sent out:
July 2010
President of the United States
United States Congress
United States Supreme Court
United States Department of Justice
50 United States Governors
Dear -- --------,
My name is Fr. Marty Kurylowicz, a Roman Catholic priest from the Diocese of Grand Rapids, Michigan ordained June 16, 1979.
In March 1997, after attending a National Symposium of the New Ways Ministry that was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I learned that children as young as 4 and 5 years of age know that they are different. This feeling "different" is only identified in their adult years as being gay. However, the harmful influence of antigay social and religious norms -- in particular, for Catholics, the Vatican’s unsubstantiated antigay teachings -- are severe and last throughout a child’s lifetime.
The harmful effects are not isolated only to these children who grow up to be gay, but also affect their families, siblings, friends and anyone whom they might consider special in their lives. They are a prescribed societal sentence of implicit isolation, which place at risk of suicide so many innocent adolescents and young adults. They stifle an enormous amount of human potential in the world that otherwise could be put to use for finding cures for diseases, offering better ways of maintaining peace among people and improving the quality of life for everyone in the world.
Gay Marriage - “SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE” Does Not Give Churches Or Benedict XVI - The Freedom To Abuse Children or Adults. July 2010 - By Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Same-Sex Marriage Laws
Reduce Doctor Visits and Health Care Costs for Gay Men
Columbia University Study – December 15, 2011
Gay men lead healthier, less stress-filled lives when states offer legal protections to same-sex couples, according to a new study examining the effects of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. The study, “Effect of Same-Sex Marriage Laws on Health Care Use and Expenditures in Sexual Minority Men: A Quasi-Natural Experiment,” is online in the American Journal of Public Health.
“Our results suggest that removing barriers to marriage improves the health of gay and bisexual men,” said Mark L. Hatzenbuehler, PhD, lead author of the study and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at the Mailman School. It also saves money in healthcare costs.
In the 12 months following the 2003 legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, gay and bisexual men had a significant decrease in medical care visits, mental healthcare visits, and mental healthcare costs, compared with the 12 months before the law change...
For the study, researchers surveyed 1,211 patients from a large, community-based health clinic in Massachusetts that focuses on serving sexual minorities. Examining the clinic's billing records in the wake of the approval of Massachusetts' same-sex marriage law, researchers found a reduction in hypertension, depression, and adjustment disorders—all conditions associated with stress.
“These findings suggest that marriage equality may produce broad public health benefits by reducing the occurrence of stress-related health conditions in gay and bisexual men,” Dr. Hatzenbuehler said.
Previous studies have documented that excluding lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals from marriage has a stressful impact on this population. Dr. Hatzenbuehler's study is the first study to examine whether same-sex marriage policies influence healthcare use and healthcare expenditures among sexual minorities…
“This research makes important contributions to a growing body of evidence on the social, economic, and health benefits of marriage equality,” Dr. Hatzenbuehler said.
The research was supported by the Fenway Institute, the Eunice Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars program.
Read more:
Reference links:
Do People Choose Their Sexual Orientation?
The Science of SEXUAL ORIENTATION – Early Childhood
ATTACHMENT THEORY - our first relationship with our carers acts as a LIFELONG TEMPLATE, moulding and shaping our capacity to enter into, and maintain, successful subsequent relationships with family, friends and partners...
SEXUAL ORIENTATION is less about sex and more about love, BEING ONE WITH ANOTHER HUMAN BEING. Attachment Theory - - LOVE & RELIGION - by Fr. Marty Kurylowicz - April 30, 2009
AUSCHWITZ -- CHRISTMAS 2008 -- A flashback far more severe than in --- BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN – December 26, 2008 – By Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
Family Acceptance Project
Family Video Series - Helping diverse families understand how to support their LGBT children takes resources that touch the heart – view video
Family Acceptance of LGBT Youth Protects Against Suicide
Dr. Caitlin Ryan – Mental Health Matters: How does the “Family Acceptance Project” work? – 2011
Sexual Conversion Therapies
Perpetuation of Generational Violence On LGBT Children
Homosexuality: Coming out of the confusion
Gay Marriage - Improves Health -Columbia University Study - 121611
Research finds - CATHOLICS are among the MOST SUPPORTIVE Christian denominations on SAME-SEX MARRIAGE... – 92711
Americans opposed to gay marriage dwindle: survey – 92811
New York GAY MARRIAGE Bill 2011
John Jay Report on Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church – “... no causative relationship between either celibacy or homosexuality and the sexual victimization of children in the Church.” 51811
RICKY MARTIN FOUNDATION - the mission - to advocate for the well-being of children around the world
The Bible & Gay Marriage
"Stonewall Uprising" 1969 - Video PBS – 42511
Benedict XVI, Roman Curia & Hierarchy – Global Child Sexual Abuse Cover-ups
Homosexuality
Revised February 11, 2011
Very belief excerpt:
Note: Highly recommended - For a more comprehensive understanding of the subject of homosexuality it is best to view entire research document.
Homosexuality
The term ‘homosexuality’ was coined in the late 19th century by a German psychologist, Karoly Maria Benkert. Although the term is new, discussions about sexuality in general, and same-sex attraction in particular, have occasioned philosophical discussion ranging from Plato's Symposium to contemporary queer theory. Since the history of cultural understandings of same-sex attraction is relevant to the philosophical issues raised by those understandings, it is necessary to review briefly some of the social history of homosexuality. Arising out of this history, at least in the West, is the idea of natural law and some interpretations of that law as forbidding homosexual sex. References to natural law still play an important role in contemporary debates about homosexuality in religion, politics, and even courtrooms. Finally, perhaps the most significant recent social change involving homosexuality is the emergence of the gay liberation movement in the West. In philosophical circles this movement is, in part, represented through a rather diverse group of thinkers who are grouped under the label of queer theory. A central issue raised by queer theory, which will be discussed below, is whether homosexuality, and hence also heterosexuality and bisexuality, is socially constructed or purely driven by biological forces.
3. NATURAL LAW
Today natural law theory offers the most common intellectual defense for differential treatment of gays and lesbians, and as such it merits attention…
The most influential formulation of natural law theory was made by Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. Integrating an Aristotelian approach with Christian theology, Aquinas emphasized the centrality of certain human goods, including marriage and procreation. While Aquinas did not write much about same-sex sexual relations, he did write at length about various sex acts as sins. For Aquinas, sexuality that was within the bounds of marriage and which helped to further what he saw as the distinctive goods of marriage, mainly love, companionship, and legitimate offspring, was permissible, and even good. Aquinas did not argue that procreation was a necessary part of moral or just sex; married couples could enjoy sex without the motive of having children, and sex in marriages where one or both partners is sterile (perhaps because the woman is postmenopausal) is also potentially just (given a motive of expressing love). So far Aquinas' view actually need not rule out homosexual sex. For example, a Thomist could embrace same-sex marriage, and then apply the same reasoning, simply seeing the couple as a reproductively sterile, yet still fully loving and companionate union…
5. CONCLUSION
The debates about homosexuality, in part because they often involve public policy and legal issues, tend to be sharply polarized. Those most concerned with homosexuality, positively or negatively, are also those most engaged, with natural law theorists arguing for gays and lesbians having a reduced legal status, and queer theorists engaged in critique and deconstruction of what they see as a heterosexist regime. Yet the two do not talk much to one another, but rather ignore or talk past one another. There are some theorists in the middle. For example, Michael Sandel takes an Aristotelian approach from which he argues that gay and lesbian relationships can realize the same goods that heterosexual relationships do (Sandel, 1995). He largely shares the account of important human goods that natural law theorists have, yet in his evaluation of the worth of same-sex relationships, he is clearly sympathetic to gay and lesbian concerns. Similarly, Bruce Bawer (1993) and Andrew Sullivan (1995) have written eloquent defenses of full legal equality for gays and lesbians, including marriage rights. Yet neither argue for any systematic reform of broader American culture or politics. In this they are essentially conservative. Therefore, rather unsurprisingly, these centrists are attacked from both sides. Sullivan, for example, has been criticized at length both by queer theorists (e.g., Phelan, 2001) and natural law theorists (e.g., George, 1999).
Yet as the foregoing also clearly shows, the policy and legal debates surrounding homosexuality involve fundamental issues of morality and justice. Perhaps most centrally of all, they cut to issues of personal identity and self-definition. Hence there is another, and even deeper, set of reasons for the polarization that marks these debates.
Read complete article:
Note: Highly recommended - For a more comprehensive understanding of the subject of homosexuality it is best to view entire research document.
Introduction to Natural Law
Murray N. Rothbard
January 12, 2007
Natural Law and Reason
Among intellectuals who consider themselves "scientific," the phrase "the nature of man" is apt to have the effect of a red flag on a bull. "Man has no nature!" is the modern rallying cry and typical of the sentiment of political philosophers today was the assertion of a distinguished political theorist some years ago before a meeting of the American Political Science Association that "man's nature" is a purely theological concept that must be dismissed from any scientific discussion.
In the controversy over man's nature, and over the broader and more controversial concept of "natural law," both sides have repeatedly proclaimed that natural law and theology are inextricably intertwined. As a result, many champions of natural law, in scientific or philosophic circles, have gravely weakened their case by implying that rational, philosophical methods alone cannot establish such law: that theological faith is necessary to maintain the concept. On the other hand, the opponents of natural law have gleefully agreed; since faith in the supernatural is deemed necessary to belief in natural law, the latter concept must be tossed out of scientific, secular discourse, and be consigned to the arcane sphere of the divine studies. In consequence, the idea of a natural law founded on reason and rational inquiry has been virtually lost.
Read more:
The Ethics of Liberty - Murray N. Rothbard
Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) was dean of the Austrian School. He was an economist, economic historian, and libertarian political philosopher.
GAY RIGHTS AND THE NATURAL LAW FARCE
NATHANIEL FRANK
DECEMBER 21, 2009
For years now a culture war has raged between liberal rationalists and religious dogmatists over whether homosexuality should be treated equally by civil law. Having lost ground in recent years…
…the right wing has begun taking careful steps to re-brand its homophobia as a rational, secular position, instead of the sectarian prejudice that it is.
This is the latest project of the Princeton professor, Robert George, profiled in this Sunday's New York Times magazine. It's a dangerous trend, and a starkly immoral one, as credentialed, highly educated people who should know better lend their social science credentials to the sloppy thinking and outright bigotry of those who are unable or unwilling to challenge their own dogma.
George is a rising conservative intellectual, counselor to Catholic bishops and Republican presidential contenders, and chair of the board of the National Organization for Marriage, founded in 2007 to oppose the right of gays to marry…
Natural law has meant different things over the centuries, but today it most commonly means deriving moral value by looking to nature. It doesn't mean that everything that occurs in nature is good, a common misunderstanding of natural law that's easily clarified by considering that disease, the cruelty of the jungle, and death are all natural but that doesn't make them good; but natural law does involve walking a rational path from empirical observation to moral valuation: we might observe that certain human goods are empirically desirable--friendship, knowledge, life itself--and reason from that observation to the assertion that they are therefore morally right, along with other acts that serve those ends. Since life is a good, the procreative act is morally right since it produces life, and so is an institution like heterosexual marriage, which blesses the procreative act. Using the body for anything else, or privileging a relationship characterized by non-procreative acts, becomes morally wrong by default.
If this sounds fishy to you…
…It's because a Princeton University professor has succeeded at pulling the wool over thousands of educated eyes by passing off his personal, religious beliefs as "invoking no authority beyond the authority of reason itself."
George and other proponents of natural law believe that nature endows humans with reason, and all you have to do is consult that reason to know that, just as a stone falls by gravity, homosexuality is morally wrong.
But there are (at least) two main problems with natural law reasoning as the basis of public policy. First is that it is utterly circular: it relies on broad agreement about what is a human good, from which natural law theorists deduce morally right action as anything that leads to that good; but how do we decide in the first place what is a moral good? Conservatives might posit that human goods include procreation or religion, while liberals might include tolerance, pleasure, or equality…
…Pointing out the subjective dimension of morality does not mean resorting to anything-goes relativism. There are many other promising avenues of thought that might help us understand where our morality comes from and how we can strive to live moral lives, ranging from the genetic selection of altruism to faith in moral instincts. Reason certainly plays a role. But if we're going to use reason, let's use real reason, and not lean on our ivy-league credentials to pass off homophobia as genuine rationality.
Read complete article:
Dr. Nathaniel Frank is author of "Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America" which won the American Library Association’s Stonewall Book Award for non-fiction. A member of the adjunct faculty at NYU, he was an expert witness in two Constitutional challenges to “don’t ask, don’t tell” whose success helped end the policy. He is currently a research consultant for LGBT organizations, including the University of California’s Palm Center and the Movement Advancement Project, and he also consulted with the Pentagon Working Group. Dr. Frank’s publications have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The New Republic, New York Magazine, Slate, USA Today, Huffington Post, and others. He has been interviewed on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” the “Rachel Maddow Show,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” NPR’s “Fresh Air,” and more. Dr. Frank has spoken at West Point Military Academy, National Press Club, Center for American Progress, University of Pennsylvania, the Smithsonian and elsewhere. His research and opinions have been cited on the Congressional floor, in syndicated columns, in the blogosphere, and in college syllabi. Born and raised in Philadelphia…
Read more:
The Magisterium’s Arguments against “Same-Sex Marriage”:
An Ethical Analysis and Critique
STEPHEN J. POPE
Theological Studies 65 (2004) 36 pages
Definition: MAGISTERIUM is the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church…bishops, popes”
Short excerpts from:
RESPONSES OF THE MAGISTERIUM
…The conjunction of church teaching and political controversy constitutes a challenge for both the magisterium and the consciences of Catholic citizens. The magisterium attempts to justify its position on the basis of reasonable arguments that can be clearly presented, critically explained, and widely agreed upon by fair-minded citizens. It gives special attention to Catholic politicians and citizens, but motivates them to adhere to values and norms derived from the natural law rather than known only by revelation or specific church teachings…
THE MORAL ARGUMENTS
…The magisterium offers a variety of arguments supporting its rejection of same-sex marriage. It joins four basic themes: (1) the immorality of “homosexual acts,” (2) the dignity of every person, including every gay person, (3) resistance to unjust discrimination, and specifically to unjust discrimination against gay people, and (4) the special good of marriage as a social institution. The second affirmation requires the third. The magisterium holds that all four themes, taken together, entail an obligation to reject proposals to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriage. The magisterium regards these positions as consistent with one another; their critics judge them to be mutually exclusive…
CONCLUSION
…The magisterium’s recent statements regarding same-sex marriage have been flawed and need to be reformulated. The major flaw involves a persistent tendency to communicate a mixed message about the worth of gay people and their place in the life of the civil community…
…Unfortunately, the ineffective, self-contradictory, and counter-productive manner in which the magisterium has tried to promote its case against same-sex marriage has made it seem more irrelevant than ever to the public debate on this topic. To be fair, even without a mixed message, the Church’s best insights need to be carefully formulated when expressed in a society that usually allows individual rights, tolerance, and the duties of non-discrimination to trump the common good, moral tradition, and institutional authority. But the content and tone of its own statements have exacerbated matters by reinforcing the view of some observers that its sexual ethics is simply out of touch with contemporary experience. The magisterium’s credibility was not helped by the fact that this debate was joined in the wake of the crisis of clerical sexual abuse and the Episcopal abuse of power. A special source of consternation, and another indication of anti-gay bias, was caused by church officials who blamed the crisis of sexual abuse on gay priests, despite the fact that most priests who are gay have not been guilty of these crimes… 106
106 On the crisis, see United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Report on the Implementation of the ‘Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People’,” Origins 33 (January 15, 2004) 521–40; National Review Board, “Report:Causes and Contents of the Sexual Abuse Crisis,” Origins 33 (March 11, 2004) 633–88; John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States (Washington: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2004).
…Yet the magisterium is not ethically entitled to connect this case about the social institution to anti-gay bias. The magisterium claims to appreciate the talents of gay people but questions whether there is a place in ordained ministry for them; it asks every person to accept his or her sexuality as a gift from God but then makes an implicit exception of the gay person; it praises Christian generosity but then condemns gay people who adopt orphans. It has no justification for continuing to issue documents that perpetuate stereotypes about gay people, stigmatize them, tacitly approve of unjust discrimination against them, discount their generosity, refuse to acknowledge their contribution to the common good, or suggest that they are in any way inferior human beings or less trustworthy members of the Body of Christ.
Read complete paper:
Note: Highly recommended viewing entire paper
STEPHEN J. POPE received his Ph. D. from the University of Chicago. He is currently associate professor of theology at Boston College. In addition to an edited book, The Ethics of St. Thomas Aquinas (Georgetown University, 2002), he recently published “The Convergence of Forgiveness and Justice: Lessons from El Salvador,” in Theological Studies 64 (December 2003). He is now editing a volume for publication this year entitled Common Calling: The Laity and the Governance of the Church (Georgetown University).
Related reference links:
Same-Sex Marriage: A Selective Bibliography of the Legal Literature
Articles in support for Same Sex Marriage:
Chartier, Gary, "Natural Law, Same-Sex Marriage, and the Politics of Virtue," UCLA Law Review , 48:1593-1632 (Aug.2001)
Strasser, Mark, "Natural Law and Same-Sex Marriage," DePaul Law Review, 48:51-81 (Fall 1998)
Articles opposing Same-sex marriage
Reid, Eric, "Assessing and Responding to Same-Sex "Marriage" in Light of Natural Law," Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, 3:523-539 (2005)
Hill, Natalie, "The Nature of Dependence and the Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Relationships," Alternative Law Journal, 24:170-174 (Aug.1999), http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AltLJ/1999/31.html
"Injustice anywhere
is a
threat to
Justice everywhere"
Martin Luther King
The Nobel Peace Prize 1964
Martin Luther King Jr.
To be continued:
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz
What you cannot do is accept injustice.
From Hitler – or anyone.
You must make the injustice visible
– be prepared to die like a
soldier to do so.
Mahatma Gandhi
Kids Are Being Hurt!!!
Roman Catholic Hierarchy child sexual abuse “cover-ups” ordered by Benedict XVI to avoid public outrage & criminal charges falsely accused gay priests, WATERGATE? – December 17, 2009
“Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well considered and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.”
…whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6
Important note: No disrespect meant to Pope Benedict XVI or the hierarchy, the one and only concern is the safety and well-being of children.
Kids Are Being Hurt!!!
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