Be Afraid
Reverend Bush is at it again. This past Wednesday, while spreading freedom in Asia, he made the following remarks on the subject of freedom of worship in China: “What I say to the Chinese, as well as to others, is that a free society is in your interest. To allow people to worship freely, for example, in your society is part of a stable, mature society. And that leadership should not fear freedoms within their society.”
How is it that Bush can encourage the Chinese government to grant its people greater freedom of religion—because, after all, freedom is nothing to fear—and yet he and his party (and not a small number of Democrats I might mention) are scared shitless when it comes to granting same-sex couples in America the freedom to marry? I guess the United States of America is not yet as stable and mature as we’d like China to become overnight.It seems to me that the current regime in China has a hell of a lot more to fear from genuine democracy than America has to fear from same-sex marriage.
posted by Sandouri Dean Bey at 6:24 PM
4 Comments:
What exactly is the connection between asking China to have religious freedom, where pastors are routinely beaten, arrested, and slandered by the government, and asking Bush for the freedom of same-sex couples to marry, where they are routinely... not. Sorry, but this is absurd moral equivalency. If you don't have the stomach to be happy that Bush isn't condoning Christians being rounded up and beaten while meeting in church, fine, I suppose. Just understand that many people cannot take someone serious of they simply -must- degregate a man no matter his action.
Do you edit this stuff before you post it?
Q: What is the difference between the basic freedom to believe in something and the freedom to marry?
A: Well, I could be a while, but why don't we start with a few hundred years of acceptance as a basic political right? One of, as it were, the cornerstones of America's very existence!
But, hey, what is the difference between President Bush not legalising gay marriage and imprisoning all the muslims? None? Thought not!
It seems that the gentlemen who posted the two previous comments believe that I have somehow undermined the value of religious freedom by placing it in the same paragraph with the freedom (of same-sex couples) to marry. I suspect they reached that conclusion not because they believe the freedom to marry to be a less fundamental, less basic human right, but because they do not believe that the freedom of same-sex couples to marry is a legitimate right at all.
In addition to demonstrating a failure to sympathize with those of us denied marriage rights at the federal level and in every state but Massachusetts, the above comments have missed the point of my post. I was not attempting to connect in any way the freedom to marry with freedom of worship. Only the most dim-witted of readers, moreover, would read into my post an endorsement of China’s human rights abuses. China should be called to task for its human rights record. My point was simply to argue that our president lacks the moral authority to issue that challenge and, moreover, that he should be held accountable to his own rhetoric.
dear zach,
should you revisit this blog to see other comments, i felt compelled to take issue with your "beaten, arrested, and slandered" assessment. i have two words for you, genius: matthew shephard. of course, i've just wasted more brain cells on you than i should have.
:(
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