April 28, 2005
Scary Stuff
NRO: Real Venom On The Left Against Conservative Christians
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Play CBS Video Video Clash On Capitol Hill A clash is coming on Capitol Hill over a mixture of religion and politics. The focal point of the conflict is a critical vote over judges. CBS News' Joie Chen reports.
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(AP)
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Interactive Eye on Religion Find out more about the beliefs, practices and history of some of the world's major religions.
Now judicial imposition of same-sex marriage has poured fuel on the fire. When Frank Rich
Last Sunday'sNew York Times gave us a clear explanation of the Catholic Church's understanding of sexuality. The Catholic position rests on the idea that there is a special tie between marriage, motherhood, and sexuality. Now there's room to differ on the nature and extent of the links between parenthood, marriage, and sexuality. Traditional Catholics will see the matter differently from traditional Protestants, who in turn will see things differently from secular social conservatives. Whatever your view on how marriage, sexuality, and parenthood ought to be related, there can be little doubt that important social consequences will follow -- and have followed -- from how we handle these issues. We can argue about whether same-sex marriage will strengthen or weaken the family, but the debate itself is, or ought to be, necessary and legitimate.
Yet to much of the mainstream media, the complicated question of how society should structure the relationship between sexuality and the family has been reduced to an all-or-nothing choice between bigotry and freedom. The overreach of this sort of intolerant secular liberalism is the real source of our cultural battles. The drive for same-sex marriage has been every bit as much of a political disaster for this country as the ill-conceived conflict over abortion. The mistake was to frame the debate as a fight against bigotry instead of as a tough decision about how to structure our most fundamental social institution. On same-sex marriage, the Left took the easy way out -- not only using the courts to make an end-run around the public, but deliberately framing the issue in a way designed to silence and stigmatize all opposition.
Now we see the results of this terrible decision. Traditional Christians are openly excoriated in the mainstream press as evil, fascist, segregationist bigots. Their political speech is placed under legislative threat. Their institutions of higher education are attacked and destroyed. Naturally, America's traditional Christians are fighting back. They've turned to the political process in hopes of securing for themselves a space in which to exist. Weary of being the butt of hatred by those who proclaim tolerance, conservative Christians are complaining, with justice, about the all-too-successful attempts to exclude them from society.
If "Dominionists" try to force all Americans to pay church tithes, or call for the execution of blasphemers and witches, I will oppose them. But that is not the danger we face. The real danger is that a growing campaign of hatred against traditional Christians by secular liberals will deepen an already dangerous conflict. The solution is to continue our debates, but to change their framing. Conservative Christians cannot stop complaining of exclusion and prejudice until cultural liberals pare back their own excesses. Let's stop treating honest differences on same-sex marriage as simple bigotry. Let's stop using the courts as a way around democratic decision-making. Let's stop trying to criminalize religious expression. Let's allow Christians to establish their own institutions of higher learning. And let's stop calling traditional Christians fascists. It would be nice if the folks complaining about "Justice Sunday" addressed these issues as well.
Stanley Kurtz is a contributing editor to NRO.
By Stanley Kurtz
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
