US, France, UK Declare War on Freedom of the Web
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 9th Jun 2011 18:51 UTC
Internet & Networking It's official now. The signs had been there for a while now. While the west bangs on about the importance of freedom and democracy, they don't actually want anyone to have too much of it. The US, France, and the UK have jointly pretty much declared war on freedom on the web.
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RE[4]: @Thom - Core freedom???
by Neolander on Sat 11th Jun 2011 08:01 UTC in reply to "RE[3]: @Thom - Core freedom???"
Neolander
Member since:
2010-03-08

Your intentions are good, and I fully respect them. But I think that in some areas, your post takes some logical shortcuts, which harms its credibility.

From a religious standpoint gay marriage can't be done because in almost all religions homosexuality is prohibited (Think: procreation, a new set of rules as husband and wife

Alright...

and the vow of faithfulness and respect towards each other).

...but why is the last one incompatible with homosexuality ? You can be faithful with someone of the same sex and respect it, isn't it ?

You shouldn't want to change a specific religion.

Have to give you that, as it's one of my core gripes with most religions. I only have respect for religious structures which encourage criticizing the dogma, interpreting texts differently, and as a whole bringing new fresh ideas into the mix. But it is irrelevant to this discussion.

These religions have greatly influenced our laws through history. While some of you aren't religious (or won't admit), you can't ignore that most of today's culture derives from those views.

The word "derives" is important. Culture has taken lessons from the traditional religious society, but since then it has moved on and gone a separate path. Conversely, religions have adapted themselves to the culture before them when building up, as an example many work-free days of the Christian religion are designed to match those of the European societies before them.

Culture is constantly in flow, you can't take it at a specific point of the past and say that it was the right way. The only relevant point in the flow of culture is the present, because it is what people care about here and now. The opinion of dead people on cultural questions shouldn't matter more than the opinion of living ones.

I don't even know why you would want to marry if you're gay except for...

...telling yourselves that you love each other ? It is one popular reason for marrying nowadays, and one that is independent on the couple members' sex.

Should gay people allowed to get married? By law I think so. Being gay isn't illegal. Should gays allowed to get married by a priest or in a religious setting? I think not.

And this I almost agree with, save for one problem again : culture is in flow. You don't know what tomorrow's religions will look like. Maybe some existing religions will mutate to allow gay people to marry. In that case, if both the couple and the priest want it, why should it be forbidden ?

What we agree with, I think, is that priests shouldn't be forced to marry homosexual people if they don't want to. That's basic freedom of religion. But if they want, why should the law prevent them ? What the law should do is to allow religious homosexual marriage, but not force it on priests, in my opinion.

Edited 2011-06-11 08:11 UTC

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