Bible not a defense against gay marriage

I love it when people cite scripture as the basis for arguments. Especially now when the issue of gay marriage is so heated, and spreading to many parts of the country. I was infuriated after reading the recent viewpoint "More than the Ten Commandments?" (March 2). Not because the author is against gay marriage, but because she uses the Bible as her defense.

I am an atheist, I think religion is a load of garbage, so quoting Matthew or Paul is meaningless. I must be mistaken in the fact that marriage is a civil contract, where religious leaders are given the right to consecrate marriages by virtue that the state authorizes them to. And since there is a strong (or I hope there will still be) separation between church and state in this country, what rabbis and priests do is a civil function. People choose to go to a church because they are Christians, fine with me, but their marriage was not religious, it was civil.

The reason opponents of gay marriage are so vehement about a constitutional amendment is because they know that gay marriage will not hurt the institution itself. Of course, taking away their religious views, they can make no valid argument that suggests a rational state interest in limiting marriage to a man and a woman. If they were true to their faith, why not also ban interfaith marriages as well? Why not constitutionally ban divorce? Rather than face the real threats to marriage, conservatives squabble about nothing.

If opponents can show me a valid argument without resorting to a contradictory story written two thousand years ago, I'll listen. But hey, god is love, right, so why is there all this hate? I can't believe how hypocritical all of these people are.



Noah Fortinsky

LA '06