Seperation Between Church & State

By now we should all know I am a centrist. I like to listen to both sides. I hardly ever use the words always or never. I try to be rational in thinking and I love to hear both sides of the story. I love to be swayed by the best argument. That being said there is a lot of talk about proposition 8 lately. I live in a state that is 62%* LDS. So...statistically that means I am in a state that is 31% active "Mormons" and probably 85% at one time or another in their life "was/is mormon." I am one of them. I hardly ever blog about the fact that this is my denomination of choice. I feel it is so unimportant to my decisions in life. It is definitely a factor but I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints because they fit in line with what I believe, not the other way around. I have agency, I choose to live my life, and I choose to belong to that church. No one at any point in my life has ever MADE me be a certain way. Not my parents and least of all my church. If you would like to dispute this fact please take it up with John & Mirtia. They would be MORE than willing to attest to my stuborness and that I have always done what I wanted and voiced my opinion whether it got me in trouble or not. They were some pretty strict parents and I never let that stop me from saying what I wanted. Thankfully they allowed my free speech. I got in trouble but at least I was allowed to say what I wanted.Needless to say, I got in trouble A LOT. OK that is a long disclaimer. Here is what I want to talk about.

I really feel for you people who voted to redefine marriage. I try to be understanding of all people and I understand they want to be married. I could have a post in and of itself on "marriage." What is a piece of paper? Marriage is so much more than that. It is a committment. I suppose however, if someone told me I couldn't get married one day I might be really sad. Today I could care less because I have no desire to get married. I ran away from it once and I might be running for a long time but I digress. I do understand that people want to be validated and they want people to recognize their union. Freak, when my sisters got married at 19 that was in thier eyes a reason to be respected. Supposedly they knew more and I had to listen to them becuase " I am married!!" Well shoot...any 16 year old with permission can get married. I don't feel like you are special. But now... there are people who love each other and want to get married and can't because they are of the same gender. I understand that.

But where does the seperation of church and state come into play. I know church's can't control the government but its members are citizens of the nation and THEY DO control the government. Where do you draw the line and say hey, I morally believe one thing but I am going to vote for something else because I don't want to hurt someone's feelings? I want them to feel validated in their love.

One argument I am hearing is that it is similar to the civil right's movement. Word on the web is that there are a lot of African Americans or furthermore, just black Americans that feel put off by this comparision. Back in the day people with black skin were being persecuted by the color of their skin, not on their choices or their being, but on something they had no control over. I am not homosexual so I don't know how it goes. The only thing I could write would be speculation. I assume however that to an extent people have agency about their sexuality. If you have agency then I believe sexuality to be a behavior and not comparable to the civil rights. In fact, I had no clue that they kept track of your race and voting but 7 out of 10 black people in the state of California voted to keep the definition of marriage between a man and a woman. The same state that had the highest turnout for Mr. Obama voted to keep marriage the way it is.

I am grateful I am not a resident of the State of California. I realize that sooner or later (probably sooner) all states will probably have to vote on something like this and that it will be my turn. I didn't vote and I don't know for sure how I would vote but I have a sneaky suspicion. But, at what point do I have to give up my beliefs? Is that not the brilliancy of the democratic process? Is that not why voting was created? Is that not why we have secret ballots and we dont' walk around with t-shirts that are printed after we leave the booth showing exactly who and what we voted for? I roll with the punches and if it had passed I can honestly say it would not have changed my life in the least. I don't think anyway. I still would have been able to get married and life would continue to go on and the Earth would continue to revolve. However, when you bring it up to be voted on people get to choose. They chose. I don't see why a big deal is being made because not everyone thinks the same and they voted to reject the redefining of marriage.

I believe in diety. I believe that we have a creator, that we existed before we came to this earth and that we will continue to exist long after. To quote The Postal Service in their song "Such Great Heights" (check out the cover by Iron & Wine)

I am thinking it's a sign That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images and when we kiss
They're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate
That God himself did make us
Into corresponding shapes
Like puzzle pieces from the clay

I do believe we were created this way and I don't think it is coinsidence that the human body happens to be this perfectly functionaly amazing machine type body. I think the power of procreation is a miracle. The way the male and female body were made to procreate seems so amazing and awesome to me. I know you can hardly ever make a blanket statement and be right but for the most part I find it amazing how men and women are inherently different. While it is true that there are men out there who are compassionate and nuturing and women out there who are ...not, for the most part it isn't just a way we were taught, it is the way we ARE. I don't believe it is nurture. I believe by nature women and men are different and together make a really neat pair.

Because I believe this I don't believe we were intended to spend our lives with someone of the opposite sex. If we were I would think we would have been created to procreate by ourselves, or with anyone. I wasn't asked to vote on this and no one asked my opinion but I am trying to form it so I am prepared when someone does.

Please don't get me wrong. When I lived in Texas I worked with a group of girls that I became to absolutely adore. They were so much fun to be around and they were really spunky. They definitely weren't the type of people I was used to hanging around but I just assumed they had been nerds in school. I soon discovered they were all homosexual or bisexual. To this day they are still some of my most favorite people and we keep in touch. They absolutely adore me and I them. When I go home for visits they make sure to all get together again and we go to starbucks and they get their fancy coffee and I get a hot chocolate and we talk about dating and life and the stresses of work. I don't judge them. Thankfully they don't judge ME for being straight! HaHa. We have had discussions and they know I don't agree with it but that it doesn't change how I feel about them at all. Like I said, I don't personally have to deal with this so all I can say would be speculation. If you ask me to vote, at what point do I vote for what I believe in and at what point do I give up my rights to voice my opinion so that people's feelings don't get hurt. This isn't me being arrogant. It really is a confusing question to me.

What I find to be dissapointing is that people who voted to keep marriage the way it is are being accused of trying to take away civil rights. At what point do you realize that maybe the whole world isn't evil and realize, hey, maybe they were just standing up for what they believe in. At what point do you think hey, they believe marriage is between a man and a woman. California, you asked them to vote and they did. Please don't complain because they didn't vote the way you wanted them to. For better or for worse the democratic process took place.

What I would love is for those of you who have an interest or an opposing view to post your own blog about this. If you want to leave a comment please do, but I would honestly love to read your blogs about how you feel.

Thanks for reading mine.