As to equality, I believe equality will be achieved when people like you butt out of the relationships that are supposed to be between two people, either civilly or in the presence of God. There is an alternative: If you claim you have the right to vote on whether or not we should be permitted to marry and to whom, I wish to assert my equal right to have the opportunity to vote on who you are permitted to marry.

As to your ridiculous discussion of polygamy and pedophilia, those are both tired analogies. I have news for you. Polygamy and pedophilia are illegal, as in criminal. Our relationships are not.

The bottom line is that if you don’t like same-sex marriage you are perfectly within your rights to not enter into one.

Bud Evans wrote: “The horrors that are committed in the name of any alleged “god” makes one wonder if there is anything in any religion that is worth bothering with.”

TigerTzu objected:
“Buddhists come to mind, but seeing as how they don’t make waves in causing problems for other people, it’s easy to see how they slipped under your radar.”

Bud Evans responds: Buddhism is not an authoritarian “god” centered belief system. A great number of people, including many Buddhists, don’t consider it a religion at all. Buddhists don’t believe in “god”. Didn’t you know that? The Buddha is a both a spiritual avatar and a objective based on the life and the teachings of a wealthy prince from northern India who lived in the 5th Century B.C.E. and who became a monk — not a god. There is no “god” in Buddhism. There is only breaking the presumptive cycle of reincarnation and achieving enlightenment; then becoming one with “deathlessness”; absolute truth; Nirvana.

No god.

Got it…no god.

TigerTzi, I understand Buddhists very well, TigerTzu. I once was one. In some ways, I suppose I still am. The Buddha said that each one of us are Buddhas too who will all someday find enlightenment. Some sooner; some later. It depends on whether we take the long path or the short path — the journey may be different, but the destination is the same. And guess what, you don’t even have to be a Buddhist get there. What other “religion” can say that without threats of hell and damnation if you leave the club?

I often find that difficult to reconcile with the my other “western” beliefs. But I am not religious. I find religion with a big “R” a dangerous companion to logic and even to spirituality. Logic has its place in understanding, but so does love and compassion and the recognition of truth and beauty in all things. How do you logically, empirically, scientifically define and measure love, wonderment and beauty? You can’t.

My approach to studying both rational human behavior and spirituality is the same. Everything is viewed through the lens of our own experience. So, in essence, we live alone in one reality (subjective reality) while we co-exist in another (objective reality). Sometimes through art, poetry, music and literature we can bridge that gulf. Sometime it only takes an act of kindness to set someone else upon the path to their own spiritual journey.

http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com/2005/10/i-am-more-than-myself.html

But my essay dealt mainly with authoritarian “god” centered “religions“. Perhaps it is just a matter of “western” semantics. Spirituality is not necessarily religion. I was referring to authoritarian tribalistic sects such as the Abrahamic religions: i.e., Judaism, Christianity and Islam. If Buddhism became evangelical and compulsory, I would put it in that same category. But it is not; it never has been.

Sorry you didn’t understand that in the context of the essay. Hopefully, now you do. Thank for your comment.

Peace.

If not, oh well. You’ll starve to death and gay people won’t be an issue anymore. Problem solved…