Well, September has left us, and we glide on beautiful Fall weather. The days are sorter (ok..ok, they still have 24 hours), the nights are cool and the leaves begining to hint at color, although it will be about 3 weeks or better before they show their colors.
I have a wonderful friend that I must tell you about. He is a Cherokee Erlder, healer and spiritual leader. He has started a blog dealing with the devastation of the Earth Mother, and is weaving Native American spirituality through his posts. It is worth a trip there to see what you can find. Go sit by the fire and listen to his stories. His blog site is at http://www.Sings-Alone.com or you can go directly to his Notes From Sings-Alone.
Dear Archbishop Brunett:
I have read your statement, “Archbishop says marriage ruling will have impact on religion,” July 24, 2006, regarding the pending marriage ruling in Washington, as posted on the Archdiocese web sit at http://www.seattlearch.org/ArchdioceseWorking/Press/ . I could not agree more, that it will impact religion.
You said that expanding the civil definition marriage to include unions other than those between one man and one woman would “lead the way to an inevitable collision with religion.” I believe that you have failed to realize that a collision with religion has already happened. Several times in your article, you speak of infringement on your religious liberty and potential challenges to that liberty if the definition of marriage is changed to include the union of same sex couples. You see, I am a Christian, I just do not happen to be a Roman Catholic. In my practice of religion, a union between two men or two women is allowed. Therefore, any law that ignores, no, does not allow the union between same sex couples is not only against the Washington State Constitution, but is against the Constitution of the United States. …and I quote, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof.”
You continually speak of how any contrary decision to the one-man one-woman definition of marriage will put challenges upon your church and your practice of religion, but you ignore the impact and challenges on my religion. Just as the government has no right to push a particular religion upon anyone, you nor the Catholic Church have no right to force your religion upon me and upon others who are not Catholics.
I quote you here, “If the court determines that the civil definition of marriage has no relationship to children there is no clear resolution to the resulting conflict when a Catholic priest or any ordained minister refuses to solemnize a union between same-sex couples.” …“That would place our [Catholic] religious liberty in jeopardy.” … “Any faith tradition that fails to pass the court-approved acceptance test may in the future face withdrawal of its authorization to solemnize a marriage.” I disagree in that the Catholic Church has every right to determine what unions they will solemnize, but so do other churches. Any conflict in the Catholic Church over the definition of marriage is between the Catholic Church and the bishops, priests and congregants that make up the Catholic Church, not between you and the government. The true conflict here that you have with the government and its people is not about religious dogma, but is about civil rights and First Amendment rights; rights that are presently afforded one group of people in our society and not another. Just as your solemnized marriages are recognized by OUR government, the solemnized marriages of my religion should also be recognized. Our government should not construct the laws of this country to conform to the religious views of the Catholic church at the exclusion of the religious views of my church or any other church.
Practice your religion, as you understand the mandates of God, but stay out of my religion and government, and allow me to practice my religious beliefs. All I want are the rights denied me and given to others in our society. I pray that God opens your eyes, so that you can see through the fog of religious intolerance and discrimination.
Sincerely,
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!