There are few things I detest more than bigotry. But guess what? It's alive and well in this country, and in fact, several leading government officials are openly sanctioning it! That's why I've created this page for my arguments, and links to sites with more information and ways to make a difference.
A friend of mine recently recieved a letter from a religious right-wing organization, asking her to join in their crusade against, among other things, homosexuality. Below, in full are those statements of theirs which I found debatable, and my arguements against them. True, I do, in some areas, get rather sarcastic, however I was beginning to get impatient. Anyway, here are my arguments:
ACLU lawsuit seeks to force religious groups to promote HOMOSEXUALITY to children!
Oh no! Excellent choice of words here. When you say, "promote homosexuality," it almost seems as though they are being told that homosexuality is better than heterosexuality, which is not the case.
We are facing an enormous and dramatic clash between good and evil. -Pope John Paul II
And who’s evil, may I ask? The people who let you do what you want as long as you leave them alone? And how do you know he was talking about homosexuality?
…the ACLU and other radical legal organizations prowl about in their relentless effort to de-Christianize our nation.
Too bad the Constitution states that church and state are to remain separate. Not to mention that not everyone in the US is Christian. If you want a religious government, go to the Middle East, and see how things are there. I’m Jewish, and I have no desire for a Christian nation.
And their primary target is our children!
While it makes sense that an organization would want the backing of the next generation, the way you put it, it sounds as though the American Civil Liberties Union is some sort of satanic group of mind-corrupting demons. However, the American Civil Liberties Union and other liberal political organizations wish also to demonstrate their ideals to the adult population. Then again, don’t all groups want to see their beliefs carried out?
Catholic churches and schools will be required to hire and retain known homosexuals, and hold that lifestyle out to innocent children as legitimate.
And this is bad because…? So, you’re saying that instead of teaching our children acceptance, we should be teaching them segregation, hatred, bigotry, close-mindedness, and denial of the facts. Doesn’t G-d say to accept and love? Not to mention that no individual has any control over his or her sexuality, so a homosexual or bisexual child born into a family who discriminates against such people will grow up believing that he or she is a disgrace and that their sexuality is something to be ashamed of.
Judges made abortion a constitutional right.
Don’t get me started on this. And why mention it anyway? Are you trying to imply that today’s federal judges are amoral in some way?
Judges banned G-d, the Bible, and prayer from our classrooms.
It’s that damn Constitution again. You know that some students are Hindu. The Judeo-Christian Bible really doesn’t mean much to them. And having religious displays in public schools could make people believe that the government favored one religion over another, which is one thing people all over the world try to escape by coming to this country.
Judges overturned the law which banned child pornography on the Internet.
It’s impossible to enforce that law. The Internet can’t be controlled sufficiently to make a ruling like that worth having. In fact, any attempt to enforce such a law would most likely result in more dangerous, law-avoiding pornographers, who develop new ways of outsmarting the government. Aside from all this, there was most likely more to that decision than you wrote here. No recenlty made law is that simple.
Until just recently, Christians, and especially Catholics, have failed to aggressively defend their faith in the courts.
And what are they defending it from? I don’t believe anyone has attempted to make a law against being Christian. According to law, you may practice your religion in any way you like, as long as it does not cause inconvenience to others.
…we are part of the "church militant" and as Pope Leo XIII said, "born for combat."
This is similar to the belief of many Islamic militants, who happen to be the same ones you are most likely denouncing at every opportunity. How are you willing to fight, who are you willing to hurt, in the name of the Church?
The Thomas Moore Law Center has become the nation’s leading Catholic interest law firm!
Which isn’t hard, considering how you yourself said earlier in the letter that you were the nation’s only Catholic law firm.
Right now, throughout America, ACLU attorneys are working with radical homosexual extremists to silence the voice of anyone who speaks the truth about homosexual activity.
Of course, it’s the liberals, who believe in free speech and civil liberty, who are trying to silence voices. And also, the "speaks the truth" bit is mostly based on assumptions. I can guess that anyone who supports this idea is not homosexual, so how could they really know the truth about it?
… the ACLU’s real agenda. That agenda, I am convinced, is to brainwash children into believing that homosexual behavior is both normal and moral.
By debating and trying to give all people a chance to live a good lifestyle and get their voices heard, we are brainwashing children. Make perfect sense.
They’re [homosexual activities] contrary to natural law…
As people cannot "decide" to be homosexual or otherwise, one can only think that homosexuality is naturally occurring. Of course, without cloning technology, homosexuals cannot have children. However, there is a bit of a population crunch on this planet, so maybe that is a good thing.
Catholic children may be forced to hear homosexual activists tell them that there is no difference between a homosexual lifestyle and a heterosexual one.
Only Catholic children? Why is that? And by the way, if you ignore the gender of the people involved, a homosexual relationship can be no different from a heterosexual one.
…the homosexual lifestyle is destructive.
And just what does it destroy?
Catholics have long needed a legal organization to defend their rights.
Your right to practice your religion is granted by the Constitution of the United States. So what rights need defending here? You can complain when they start closing down churches.
The Thomas Moore Law Center is becoming one of the nation’s leading civil rights centers.
Don’t flatter yourself. And if you’re defending civil rights, then why are you trying to deny people marriage, simply because they don’t completely agree with your idea of a perfect lifestyle? Sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it?
They [the ACLU and like-minded citizens] know that all they need to do to make their anti-Christian agenda the law of the land…
Who’s anti-Christian? Some of my best friends are Christian. I just don’t believe that the government of a nation composed of many faiths should be partial to the ideals of one of them. And aside from this, some of my Christian friends are homosexual. So how are laws banning discrimination against gays anti-Christian? Do you enjoy pretending to be helpless victims?
New York City school policy currently prohibits Catholics and other Christians from displaying Christmas nativity scenes… even though it allows and encourages the display of both the Jewish Menorah and the Muslim Star and Crescent!
I am a Jew, so I will tell you right now that "menorah" does not need to be capitalized. As for the actual argument, both the menorah and the star-and-crescent are symbols, not major mythological stories. Nativity scenes embody an entire belief, and tell a story, to some extent, while symbols, in this case, are simply a means of identification. Somehow, I doubt that New York City school policy bans crosses.
His [a Pennsylvania honor student] principal told him to either cover his pro-life t-shirt or turn the shirt inside out…
My school principal told me to remove my spiked jewelery. From this, we can deduct that school principals are evil and biased against honor students. Makes sense to me.
"Abortion is Homicide. You will not silence my message. You will not mock my G-d. You will stop killing my generation."
A little harsh, don’t you think? And, I think, a little ill-conceived. "killing my generation" is overstating the issue. Many more children are born than aborted, let me tell you. Not to mention that even assuming the rather extreme notion that abortion is homicide to be true, if G-d truly is all-powerful, then He conducts our actions, and the deaths of so many, who never got a chance to live, are not a mockery, but a display of His power. Oh, and the wording itself is suspect. It suggests violence and the sort of chauvinism which led to the Spanish Inquisition. More tidbits on abortion: Before abortion was legalized, desperate women got abortions anyway, and died because of it. Now that abortion is legal, women can go to sterile clinics and offices where fully educated personnel perform the operation. Many of the women who died may have had chances to restart their lives had they lived. How many women are you willing to kill for ideals which will only create more jobless, welfare-dependent, apathetic people?
Within 24 hours the school’s attorney faxed a letter assuring us that the student would be allowed to wear his pro-life t-shirt!
Big surprise. Few public schools can afford to pay the legal fees required in a federal lawsuit over such a controversial issue as this. They’d rather let the kid wear his shirt that try to fork over the money for a lawyer to argue a case they may lose.
TMCL assisted the Nebraska Conference of Catholic Bishops in opposing the adoption of a child by two lesbians…
A couple wants a child. What’s wrong with that? In fact, that they are willing and even hoping to take in a child whom no one else has cared for is admirable.
…which could have resulted in the de facto legitimization of "same sex marriage"…
So a married couple wants a child. I don’t see the problem here. Wait, maybe it’s that homosexuality thing. Didn’t we go over this already? Just because you’re "normal" doesn’t mean that those ho aren’t have to suffer.
…and WON!
Ouch. The way I see it, it’s not you extreme right-wing Christians who need to fight for your rights. It’s the other guys.
TMLC helped stop the legalization of transsexual marriages in Kansas.
And thereby forced people who would love to be married either to live together as couples without marrying, or leave Kansas. Dorothy would be horrified.
…Catholics have a grave moral duty to fight for moral truth in an increasingly secular society.
While American society is indeed rather secular, the adverb "increasingly" is misused. This nation was from the beginning intended to be secular, as is stated in the First Amendment. As for the duty to "fight for moral truth," it could be said that that is a duty shared by all people.
As His disciples we must not "sit on the sidelines" and allow the ACLU or any other organization to silence our Catholic voice.
The American Civil Liberties Union works for the protection of every citizen’s constitutional rights. This includes (surprise, surprise!) America’s Catholics. One of these rights is freedom of speech, meaning that you can say whatever you like. Your voice is not being silenced. However, your actions may be curtailed, in an effort to produce an ethically sound, efficient, and patriotic citizen body.
In reference to the list of public enemies:
So, you believe that church and state should not be separate, leading to a militant religious society similar to the Taliban. You also seem to dislike femnists. Is there something wrong with female suffrage? There appear to be many, uglier facets to your seemingly noble-minded enterprise.
…re-establishing religious freedom for all Christians.
As far as I know, your religious freedom is in no way threatened… unless, of course, you mean the freedom to dominate people and control aspects of their lives that are none of your business…but I’m repeating myself.
…those who seek to destroy the *Biblical foundations* of our nation.
Meaning, of course, the Separatists who fled here for religious freedom, because in their home country, the Church and the law were intertwined. If you are referring to the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, those documents are products of the Enlightenment, which was about tempering blind faith with reason. I’m sorry, but I have to ask. What Biblical foundations?
In conclusion, I have these other remarks:
While you loudly proclaim that you are fighting for religious freedom, you at the same time want a Christian nation, which would have little need for any other religion.
You wrongly imply that the United States of America was intended to be such a nation, instead of a haven of liberty.
You are determined to allow teenagers to wear clothing with potentially violent messages in the name of good faith, yet you refuse to allow people to marry and have children unless they live according to your standards.
Your arguments are phrased to sound as if Catholic children, after hearing a different set of ideas which they may not agree with, would be completely helpless little creatures, and become instantly brainwashed. In my experience, it is very unwise to underestimate children. And also, do you believe their faith to be so weak that after hearing someone else’s thoughts, they would immediately abandon their own? If you want to impress certain ideals on a child, start with the parents.
In fact, you seem to be trying to call out for help as victims of a horrible plot against your church, your G-d, and your children, while at the same time proudly listing the number of cases you have won. Not only is this a contradiction, it is a deception. President Bush would never allow any plot against Christianity.
I also noticed that you have a tendency to leave out commas, and you switch subjects several times in this letter, from homosexuality to abortion, back and forth. Poor writing.
In the interests of space, as well as attention spans, I have not included the original letter. If you wish to read its contents, email me.