Religious Reactions to Prop 8 Ruling Underscores That It's All About Religion

I have long maintained that the ONLY justification really behind anti-gay legislation and bans against gay marriage is religion. The opinion rendered by Judge Walker in Perry v. Schwarzenegger - who naturally the Christo-fascists want impeached - thoroughly demolishes all of the other alleged justifications. Thus, one is left only with supposed "moral" justifications which is in essence religious justification. Which, if the United States Constitution means anything, illegal and must be outside the realm of the civil laws. USA Today has a compilation of reactions to the ruling and the only ones who are bemoaning the result are those who seek to impose their generally hate and fear based religious beliefs on all Americans. They are also the ones who disseminate false and demeaning anti-gay propaganda even as they demand respect and civility for themselves. Hypocrisy knows no limits with these people who in the final analysis care only for themselves and of course power, control and most of all MONEY. They are indeed the reincarnation of the Pharisees denounced by Christ in the Gospels. First some highlights on the reactions of the Pharisee set:
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The Mormons, who were among the strongest supporters of Prop. 8. A statement released this afternoon said: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regrets today's decision. We recognize that this decision represents only the opening of a vigorous debate in the courts over the rights of the people to define and protect this most fundamental institution -- marriage. There is. . . . no doubt that today's ruling will add to the marriage debate in this country and we urge people on all sides of this issue to act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different opinion.
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The 11 Roman Catholic bishops of California spoke as one through the church's lobbying arm in the state, the California Catholic Conference. The CCC executive director Edward (Ned) Dolejsi, who also serves on the executive committee of ProtectMarriage.com and the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund -- two groups that take credit for the original successful passage of Prop 8 -- said in a statement Wednesday that they were "disappointed" in the ruling, . . .
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Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Rev. Albert Mohler . . . This clearly this is a huge boost to proponents of same-sex marriage in terms of cultural momentum ... In a society like ours the sense of cultural momentum is priceless. It gives proponents a sense of impending inevitability even as it upends millennia of human experiences and wisdom on marriage. No one could possibly believe this was in the minds of the founders when they framed the Constitution. I greatly lament the social and political pitfalls.
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No surprises here. And I would add that Mohler's alleged societal pitfalls utterly failed to be proved during the trial. As for the "political" pitfalls, the only downside is for the Christianists who, once marriage is available to all Americans, will lose their biggest cash fundraising issue and some of them will need to secure real jobs. All in all, it's just more of the same old bullshit that is the norm for these power crazed and money hungry institutions/organizations that want nothing less than a theocracy with themselves in charge. Those who grasp the concept of freedom of religion and who understand it applies to ALL citizens naturally were jubilant over Walker's ruling. Here's a sampling of their reactions:
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[T]he Rev. Susan Russell . . . . head of the gay Episcopal group Integrity and pastor of All Saints Pasadena, points out: Progressive people of faith have biblical values, too -- and one of those values is telling the truth. And the truth is, if we're going to love our neighbors as ourselves, we need to be defending all marriages and valuing all families ...
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This ruling, says Russell comes down to a judge considering the religious arguments against gay marriage then concluding, "No one has the right to write their theology into our Constitution. (This) should be celebrated by people of all faiths, of any faith and of no faith.
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Rev. Barry Lynn head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State cheered the downfall of the referendum, which he says was a push by lavishly funded political front groups representing Catholic bishops, the LDS Church (Mormons) and fundamentalist Protestant churches to impose their doctrine on civil law marriage. In a statement Lynn said: A growing number of American denominations and faith groups perform same-sex marriages. Why should the state refuse to recognize those ceremonies while approving of ceremonies by other clergy? A decent respect for church-state separation means the government should not play favorites when it comes to religion.
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While the battle is far from over, I sincerely hope that this ruling is the beginning of the end of the civil laws being used to punish gays and other minorities that the Christo-fascists don't like. P.S. The photo is of fellow blogger Jeremy Hooper and his partner who married last year in Connecticut.