"However, does separation of church and state mean religious values should be taken off the table in the debate over gay marriages? "
Absolutely not. I would even go so far as to suggest that the removal of religiously influenced morality from political decision making is not only impossible, but a little naive.
The minds of values of policy makers have been shaped, defined, or at the very least effected by the religious thought they have come into contact with. In most cases, this is primarily the religion they have grown up with.
The question then, is simple. Which values, and which religion are the values we should follow?
Obviously, most contributors to this forum are of a form of Christianity which not only does not recognize gay marriage, but believes it is a detriment to society. How? No one has said, but they believe it somehow is. Unfortunately, there are many Christian religious sects which do recognize gay marriage. There are also many other faiths which recognize gay marriage, or even just that gay marriage is not harmful in any way. Some quick examples....
Taoism, Buddhism, forms of Hinduism, most Pagan religions, The Unitarian Church, and a number of others.
... to be blunt… Whether or not gay marriage is immoral, is far from agreed upon. The opposition to Gay Marriage in Canada comes from the same place it always has. A very narrow bread of Christianity that believes it can force its morality down the throats of other Canadians.
This perception has been characterized in previous posts as ‘erosion’. This is bandied about a fair bit, but without explanation. What exactly is being eroded, how is it being eroded, and of what value is this thing that is being eroded? These questions lye unanswered in the wake of jingoistic abstraction like “Family Unit”, “Moral Fiber”, “Sacred Union”, and the like.
In the end, I have yet to hear a single, actual argument against Gay Marriage that doesn’t depend on the wrongful assumption that there are not gay “family units”; that being gay is actually immoral at all; and that a gay union isn’t as sacred as any other.
I think you should ask yourself why you would be against Gay Marriage.
