[MD] Theocracy, Secularism, and Democracy

[david buchanan]

Platt said to Arlo:
For me, the foundation of opposing gay marriage is the social benefit of having families consisting of mothers and fathers as being the best arrangement for raising children -- a generality to be sure but one that has been approved and followed by humans ever since humans came on the scene.

dmb says:

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As a matter of fact, that is exactly the foundation used by the opponents of gay marriage in the most recent legal case out in California. The lawyers for the anti-gay marriage side, trying to put their view in secular terms, tried to make a case that gay parents are bad for children. They had two expert witnesses that said just that. But the lawyers for the pro-gay marriage side called in three times as many experts and their evidence convinced the judge that gay parents are NOT bad for children. The evidence shows that it is just a myth that gay parents are bad parents just because they're gay. That's why the anti-gay group lost the case, because their claims about what's "the best arrangement for raising children" are not supported by the evidence.

Ironically, if Phil Zuckerman (Sociologist and author of "Society Without God") is right, the evidence shows that religious parents are the most likely to be bad for kids. That's where we find the highest rates of family dysfunction; divorce, adultery, child abuse, incest, etc.. 

There's a funny thought. Imagine if some "militant secularists" took Zuckerman's findings into a court room. Imagine what FOX "news" would do if the ACLU was trying to make a case for the prohibition of Christians getting married because of the harm it does to children. I'm not sure who'd be best to handle this thought with the proper delicacy but I'm thinking Will Ferrell, Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert.