Sunday, January 31, 2010

J. Budziszewski's "So-Called Marriage"

I discovered J. Budziszewski reading First Things and I've never regretted it. Six years ago he wrote "So-Called Marriage" for Boundless Webzine, "An Online Magazine for Christian Singles and Young Adults" from Focus on the Family.

One recurring theme of Pastor Zip's Blog is that the arguments to uphold marriage in the West as between a man and a woman are not primarily religious or biblical -- and that Christians must know this. In this article, Prof. Budziszewski takes us to a conversation during office hours between a professor and a student who tried defending traditional marriage in class.
"Could I just lay out my argument step by step?" she asked. "As soon as you spot a problem, you can say 'Stop' and I'll stop."

I smiled. "Just what I was about to suggest."

"Okay. Homosexual acts are morally wrong because — "

"Stop."

"Already?"

"Yes. I agree that they're morally wrong, but that's not the place to start. You probably don't need to make that case at all."

"Why not?"

"Because the question on the table concerns enacted law — marriage law drawn up and enforced by the government — not moral law."

"Shouldn't they be related?"

"Certainly, but not in the way you're thinking. It's not a moral requirement that everything immoral should be illegal."
Why should government protect marriage as a publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous relationship between a man and a woman? Read it all here.

Hat tip to TitusOneNine.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

really pastor zip? this kind of straw-man, pseudo platonic argument is the best you can do to support your "tradition"? you must feel a little sheepish, intellectully speaking.

Unknown said...

Anonymous, I notice that there is no response to your comment. Just to prove that the argument is a straw man argument. There is no sociological or psychological study proving that same-sex marriages with children are detrimental (rather, more detrimental) to the health and well-being of children. Just because gay men and women don't want to get married doesn't mean they shouldn't. Just like those who are Pro-Choice don't think that abortion is okay. As usual, Christians mostly want to take away people's rights and impose a morality that they themselves do not adhere too. I say this as a Christian who loves God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit tries to live in their love, mercy and grace as a saved sinner everyday. I also don't think people should be demonized or patronized as the majority of the Christian community does to the LGBT community. Christians need to live the gospel a modicum of the amount as they claim to know it.