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richardf8I am going to disclose here some thoughts I have had on why all Jews, regardless of affiliation or belief about the acceptability of homosexuality should oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment.
We must understand that what is driving the Federal Marriage Amendment is not a desire by the majority of its supporters to bring the US law into accord with halakha. It is, rather, a test case to see if it is possible to modify the Constitution to protect the sensibilities of a particular group of people. It is extremely important to understand that although, in this matter, those sensibilities coincide with the sensibilities of many of our communities, it will not always. What happens when the people driving the current amendment find their sensibilities offended by B'rit Mila or Sh'chita?
This is why Jews in America have always been strong advocates of separation of church and state – because while it should be the right of each religious community to establish the terms of relationship to G-d for its members, any imposition of such terms by the state constitutes a violation of the freedom of religious communities to do so. And if the sensibilities of a religious community other than our own is allowed to determine the laws of the state, we should not be surprised to find our own practices under fire where they offend those sensibilities.
It has happened many times before, and it would behoove us to defend a constitution that has long protected our own freedom to practice from rewriting by those who would turn their sensibilities into law.
We must understand that what is driving the Federal Marriage Amendment is not a desire by the majority of its supporters to bring the US law into accord with halakha. It is, rather, a test case to see if it is possible to modify the Constitution to protect the sensibilities of a particular group of people. It is extremely important to understand that although, in this matter, those sensibilities coincide with the sensibilities of many of our communities, it will not always. What happens when the people driving the current amendment find their sensibilities offended by B'rit Mila or Sh'chita?
This is why Jews in America have always been strong advocates of separation of church and state – because while it should be the right of each religious community to establish the terms of relationship to G-d for its members, any imposition of such terms by the state constitutes a violation of the freedom of religious communities to do so. And if the sensibilities of a religious community other than our own is allowed to determine the laws of the state, we should not be surprised to find our own practices under fire where they offend those sensibilities.
It has happened many times before, and it would behoove us to defend a constitution that has long protected our own freedom to practice from rewriting by those who would turn their sensibilities into law.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-05 04:35 am (UTC)But the truth is that neither of us can make a rational case for his opinion that the other will accept. We've tried persuading each other before, and it passed some time in the days when there was time to pass, but neither of us could effect a change in the other's beliefs around this.