November 3, 2005

Dear Sir,

Michael J. McManus in his Ethics and Religion column on Saturday made the tired and completely unsubstantiated claim that gay marriage or the legal equivalent of marriage in some never defined way would undermine "traditional" marriage. This he tries to prove by citing statistics on out-of-wedlock births in Sweden and Norway where same sex marriage is legal.

It would make just as much sense to suggest that increasing numbers of out-of-wedlock births (now well over one in three) and divorces (now ending over half of all marriages) in the United States are the result of the vicious crusade of some American churches to deny equal legal rights to gay Americans. It is an argument with no validity whatever.

The constant repetition of the phrase, originating in the Vatican, that gay marriage "attacks" or "undermines" "traditional marriage" has never been proven or justified in any way whatever. It is accepted as a given and has rolled along unchecked in the tried and proven Nazi style. Repeat a lie often enough and people will eventually believe it. A more believable truth is that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery".

What thoughtful, charitable people are interested in is not what some churches think marriage out to be, but that everyone should be equal before the law. No one really cares whether people are equal or not equal in these extremist churches. Those churches, unfortunately, are unable to love their neighbour as themselves and thus renounce the right to be called Christian.

CHURCHGOING CHRISTIAN

City of Hamilton