Editor,
I am so sick of letters by the dogmatic right on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
Do these people actually desire a return to back-alley abortions, which would be inevitable should they get their wish and criminalize abortion? Or do they want an all-powerful state that determines matters between private individuals, such as marriage?
If so, I urge people like Phillip Howell, Slowhike and The Ghost (persons who post drivel on the Daily Lobo message boards) to move to a state more in line with their type of thinking, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia or the parts of Afghanistan that have reverted to Taliban control.
The arguments against abortion and gay marriage are not founded upon anything resembling logic, reason or science; rather, they refer to a book of mythology written many years ago.
The Bible is not one book written by one author. It is a compilation of myths and stories of the peoples of the lands now composed of Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The book has been translated multiple times into various languages and at times has been translated to serve the political purposes of rulers and elites.
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Would anyone base policy upon Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung, a tale of Nordic and Icelandic mythology? Or Homer's Iliad and Odyssey? Yet people want to base public policy on a book of mythology mixed with history.
If the issue of marriage is one of theology, then why do states sanction marriage and issue licenses? This is another issue in which fundamentalist Christians, who are devoid of anything resembling reason, try to define in religious terms by stating that marriage has traditionally been defined as between one man and one woman, ignoring historical facts that show an evolution of the definitions of marriage through time and that various cultures have had differing definitions of the concept.
Therefore, marriage has nothing to do with any deity or holy commands but, rather, like The Bible and other religious texts, has been defined time and again by humans and at times is a political matter rather than anything to do with spirituality. So if marriage is indeed a religious matter, as proponents of Proposition 8 have argued, why do states recognize marriage and why are there certain government benefits for marriage, such as tax advantages for married couples, filing jointly and in certain states, community property rights?
If marriage is defined as a state or legal matter, then it should be secular. The definitions and rules should be based on sound logic and policy rather than articles of faith.
Brandon Curtis
UNM alumnus
