The shining whiteness of the bridal gown, symbolizing purity and the power that purity conveys, has been stained — or smudged, if you will — by pornography, sex before marriage, marital infidelity, divorce, abortion and, now, so-called marriages between people of the same sex.
Like the dirty oil that pours uncontrollably into the waters of the Gulf, this withering tide of immorality at times seems impossible to control. No one has been successful in stopping the onslaught, since many parts of our society share a mistaken view of human freedom. When used properly, freedom is good and life-enhancing, but when misapplied, freedom works against life.
Not all free actions are moral; and not all actions that are legal are good. In the case of slavery, free and legal actions were profoundly cruel and hateful. The same is true of abortion, the worst moral evil of our time.
Those who justify immoral actions in the name of freedom, while failing to discuss the ethical dimension of those actions, keep society in moral obscurity and darkness.
Emphasis mine. Read the entire piece here on The Maine Family Policy Council’s website. (via Joe. My. God.)
I can honestly say that I’ve never heard, read or participated in a discussion in favor of what the author of the above calls “immoral actions” where there wasn’t profound — often heart-wrenching — consideration given to ethical considerations.
Have you?
The article as a whole is even more disturbing to me than the excerpt. I’s pretty darn sure it also contains a number of logical fallacies, though I certainly don’t know the names for them. At least the author left out the ‘god hates x,y, or z and caused the oil spill to punish us’ angle?
Hmmm. After years of moral marital purity, I pick just after my first adulterous liason to read this so, I might have a guiltier conscience then I might have.
I was definately NOT a virgin upon my marriage. Hubby was…I don’t know that my prior experiences made a positive difference, but hubby’s ‘purity’ pre-marriage was no panacea either. Lot to think about.
I was ‘saving myself’ and was full well an adult before I ‘gave it up’ in a committed relationship. That did not as I expected it to do last. I went on to a series of adventures that harmed no one least of all myself.
I had recently settled into a monogamous relationship, But don’t feel more morrally superior for it..
He doesn’t want to define it or necessarilly commit. I am considering various potential adventures and will do so If they seem right for me. Each situtation is different, I think.
“or smudged, if you will”
I’ve been staring at that aside for ten solid minutes now, trying to figure out what the hell it was they thought they were clarifying, to no avail. A little help here? Does ‘smudge’ have some particular connotation in crazy christianist idiolect that it lacks in common parlance that would make it anything other than (in this context) a simple synonym for ‘stained?’
I find the “smudged” aside baffling because, to me, a smudge is less damaging to fabric than a stain. So – these immoral acts aren’t as bad to some people as they are to others and he’s trying to be inclusive?
“All these are violations of natural law, and as result, poison the life of society at its root.” Is the bit that gets me.
Natural law is the most abused bit of language in a moral context and a sure fire indicator the user is has not given the subject sufficient thought or research.
Though the wiki entry on natural law is well worth a read.
The implied ethnocentrism in their color association is rather amusing…. As if purity is something that is associated with white in all instances.
In my culture, white means death.
Jesus was, of course, white.
Shhh, you’re not supposed to point out that much of modern Christianity is a death cult!
Oh wait, I guess that’s obvious, isn’t it?
Clearly this person has never had an intelligent discussion with someone on any of the subjects he/she is talking about.
Must be nice to live in a black and white world. There’s less thinking required.
“Much good can come of the oil spill in the Gulf, if the natural calamity reminds us to restore purity and innocence to America.”
When has America ever been pure and innocent? Ask the indians who were tricked or forced off of their lands. Ask those that were kidnapped and sold into slavery to work its lands. Ask the women who were burned at the stake or drowned as witches. Ask the children who were forced to work in its factories.
This guy lives in his own world, like a 50′s family sitcom. It never existed. A dream built on the backs of those we oppressed to build that American “utopia”.
Morality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Beware when you seek to impose yours on others.
If we bind the blinders tight enough, the possibility of concepts other than our own are, purposefully and forever, excluded. Can’t ever enjoy a sunset if you sit in the basement screaming to the rafters that the sun is … a smudge on society.
The most hilarious thing about this to me is that the white bridal gown is such a relatively recent invention. Queen Victoria married in white, and soon everyone else wanted to. Before that, women just wore their best dress, or, if they were wealthy, a new, beautiful, expensive dress — of any color.
Yes. Also love the idea that marriage is an immutable tradition since…well, I guess in their eyes since Adam and Eve. Insanity.
Weren’t Adam and Eve siblings? Doesn’t that fall under the definition of incest? Scandalous!
and she was made from his /rib/.
is there such thing as being married to yourself, or a part of yourself?
I mean I propose to myself regularly but I’ve never only proposed to a rib–let alone enter into anything sacred with it. :)
I wonder if the author was a virgin when he got married. These bible thumper types often fall into the pot-kettle-black category.
The main purpose of the ‘god-virus’ is to infect everyone’s life and deny us any pleasure that doesn’t directly serve the virus’ needs. And since the virus latches on to guilt that’s the reason that religion why god-sufferers make so much fuss about what they see as wrong-doing and the rest of us see as everyday life …. or just good fun.
Those afflicted by religion should simply keep quiet about their disorder and stop trying to drag the rest of us down to their level of misery.