darlin’, you’re senseless, you’re a truck with no brakes

Oh, here we go...I'm going to get comments on this one.

First, a bit of setup: Because I requested a small vial of holy water once from a certain company, I got on their mailing list, which apparently included emails. They've been, in general, mid-level hysterical, though not worth sharing, save for the one that was freaking out so hard about the Satanic Christmas tree in...Santa Monica? San Diego? One of those.

Anyway, this one came under the title of So...what about same-sex "marriage"? In quotes, yes. And it went from there:

Dear Ms. {my name},

It is a war.

It is not a war. It has never been a "war", in the traditional sense, though there have been casualties and great losses. But it is not a "war". Let's make that plain.

Borrowing from the analogy in Saint Ignatius’ spiritual retreats, there are those who fight under the Flag of Jesus and those who fight under the Flag of the World, The Devil and the Flesh.

And that is just so much hogwash, ten liters of hogwash. Y'all can "fight" under the flag of Jesus all you like, we'll be over here not fighting under the friendlier banner of equality and understanding. For all.

There are those doing everything to destroy marriage and the family and those defending it and standing up for it no matter what.

Again, you are so wrong here, it's just astounding. NO ONE in the various marriage-for-all movements around this country, and elsewhere, around the world, has ever intended to "destroy" marriage. Instead, what we want is the same rights that heterosexuals have: the right to visit our partners in the hospital, the right to file taxes jointly, the right to raise children together, the right to make burial arrangements, should our partners pass on, and the right to the survivor's pension if there is one. Nothing more. Just the same rights that straights have. This diminishes straight marriage in no way, this devalues straight marriage in no way, this "attacks" straight marriage in no way. All we want is to be treated the same as all other citizens, where marriage, caregiving, financial dealings, child-rearing, and funerary traditions are concerned.

It is the same old story. You are either for Christ or against Him.

Why does it always come down to this? It's not a war. It's not a fight. We can be Christian and want same-sex marriage. We can be atheist and want same-sex marriage. We can be pagan and want same-sex marriage, Muslim, Buddhist, Shinto...the religion doesn't matter. It's not about faith. It's about human rights. Don't you get that?

As I write, prayer warriors are gearing up for 3,000+ rosary rallies in public locations all across America this March in defense of God’s marriage, praying and saying:

Marriage = One man + one woman!

It was bolded in the original, so I bolded it here. And this part just made me roll my eyes. "God's marriage". Really? "God's marriage". God's idea of marriage, or at least the Biblical idea of marriage, featured:

• underage partnership, or at least, very young marriage (Ezekiel 16:7-8, see also the accepted Biblical definition of puberty being 10 to 12 years of age)
• forcible marriage of a widow to a family member of her former spouse (specifically Genesis 38:6-10, but there are other passages
• accusations of adultery ending in death for both parties (Leviticus 20:10)
• "marriage" that includes sleeping with both the wife, and any of her slaves or servants (Genesis 16)
• rape (specifically in the cases of captives of war, but also direct rape)
• forcible "marriage" of slaves to each other (Exodus 21:4, with the specific instruction that followed that after seven years the man was freed from slavery, but the woman and any children remained slaves)
• multiple wives (too many passages to name)
• incest (Genesis 20:11-12)

Do any of these passages sound like states that are desirable in 2019? Cultures change. Ideals change. We no longer fear washing more than once a week. Most of us no longer exile a woman to a tiny unheated hut in the wilderness during her bleeding time. We have embraced the joy of plumbing. Marriage can change too. It is in the nature of humanity to grow, to evolve, to alter, to adapt. All things must adapt.

I am writing you today to ask for your support, your prayers and sacrifices.

January 23rd is the Feast day of the Betrothal of Our Lady and Saint Joseph – the perfect models of what God wants marriage to be.

"Perfect" is something of a relative term. If anyone truly thinks the marriage of a 14-year-old to a man in his twenties, followed by a pregnancy by someone or something else, as a "perfect marriage"--well, your thought processes may well be the problem.

Sadly, you and I know how the Sacrament of marriage has suffered in the hands of a Christ-less culture...

Do I? What these people need to realize is that their ideas of what makes a "perfect marriage" has nothing to do with what makes a "legal marriage". They want a "perfect" marriage, one man, one woman, one God--well, there are plenty of churches to do just that. Legal marriage is a different animal.

Here is a quick look back at when marriage was valued in America:

In 1888 the Supreme Court ruled that marriage is "an institution in the maintenance of which in its purity the public is deeply interested, for it is the foundation of the family and of society, without which there would be neither civilization nor progress."

Again, bolded by them, so I left it in, but they're talking about the Maynard v. Hill case in Oregon, wherein the end result was divorce was declared absolutely illegal. It had very little to do with "God's marriage". And of course, later, in 2015, was the Obergefell v. Hodges case, wherein marriage was expanded, legally, to include both male-female marrages and same-sex marriages. Without ever demeaning, devaluing or destroying "God's marriage".

Then in 1942 that same high court said that marriage is "fundamental to the very existence and survival of the race."

Actually, the conclusion of the Williams v. North Carolina case in 1942 was that federally, both marriages and divorces should be recognized, even across state lines. It had nothing to do with preserving "God's marriage".

The rest of it descends into hysterical nonsense about men marrying dogs, which has zero place in a logical discussion of the expansion of legal marriage, and perhaps far more to do with the disturbing fantasies of Christian fundamentalists involving bestiality. I won't entertain this further, except to say at one point in this country, black men and women did not have equal rights with white men and women, and several ministers pointed to the Bible to defend that. They were wrong. At one point in this country, both Chinese and Irish immigrants were considered less than human, and several ministers pointed to the Bible to defend that too. They were also wrong. And they are wrong here in every way.

Or, put another way: the only person "destroying" your so-called "holy marriage" is you--when you as a Christian step outside the bonds of it into another person's arms, or divorce your spouse before they naturally expire. Anyone who wants to marry someone of the same gender has no designs on your Christian marriage at all. So wake up, sit down and stop screaming nonsense, and let the adults decide these things. Because you're clearly incapable of doing so.