Editor,
I oppose allowing people in a homosexual relationship to be married or to be granted a civil union. I’m sure some readers will quickly accuse me of being a bigot, suffering from homophobia, being unjust, discriminatory or label me with other words used in a pejorative sense. However, a rational person knows that name calling is not a logical argument. Allow me to state a few reasons for opposing the recognition of homosexual unions in law:
In “Nicomachean Ethics,” Aristotle taught that the function of human beings is to live according to a rational principle and to do so in as excellent a manner as possible. The ability to exercise our minds, to discover the truth and live accordingly is a hallmark of being human.
The University is a perfect example of the exercise of reason, or at least it is supposed to be. At the University, we are searching for the truth about ourselves, all of creation and even God, a search reflected in the numerous subjects of study.
Through the exercise of reason, we learn the truth, and this knowledge becomes a norm or law for action. The truth learned is the rational principle to live by.
This is the structure of human action: Reason and truth precede choice and action. This is the only way to ensure that freedom is used to bring about what is good and not what is bad. As Jesus of Nazareth taught, “The truth will make you free.”
In fact, the Roman philosopher Cicero stated the following: “There is such a thing as a just law, right reason.”
Hundreds of years later, another well-known philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, gave this definition of law: “Law is a command of reason promulgated by legitimate authority for the sake of the common good.”
The foundation of law is that it is grounded in reason, in other words, in the truth. Law is a command of reason, not simply the desire of a person.
People sometimes desire what is opposed to reason.
In regard to defining marriage in law, we are dealing with the truth about human sexuality. The truth about human sexuality is not difficult to discover. We know that human beings exist in two differentiated yet complementary sexes: male and female. Biology, human anatomy and physiology, genetics, chemistry, gynecology, embryology and many other sciences teach that man and woman are made for one another, and that their union is the source of life. Without this union, there is no human life.
Reason commands me to recognize that heterosexuality is the authentic, rational and truthful expression of human sexuality, with the same force as one plus one equals two. For the laws regarding marriage to be rational, just and binding on conscience, they must be grounded in this truth.
If we are going to live as rational people, our laws must be grounded in the truth. If not, we are going to live in the age of the abandonment of reason.
Benjamin Sanchez
UNM alumnus
