Rev. John Rankin: Is Same-Sex Marriage a Civil Right?

Rev. John Rankin, President, Theological Education Institute, Hartford, CT & Arline Isaacson, Co-Chair, Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus spend over two hours discussing the question "Is Same-Sex Marriage Good for the Nation?" This video contains excerpts from their discussion.

To read an earlier dialogue between John Rankin and Arline Isaacson please see http://www.mars-hill-forum.com/forumdoc/m074cont.html

For further information about the Theological Education Institute (TEI) and articles by John Rankin please visit http://www.teinet.net/ and http://www.johnrankin.org/

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Rev.
• John Rankin
• TEI
• teinetwork
• Same-Sex
• Homosexual
• Gay
• Lesbian
• Marriage
• Civil Unions
• Equal Rights
• Hate Speech
• Bisexual
• Christianity
• Politics
• Arline Isaacson

[teinetwork]

SpreaddEm -- thank you. Your online name advertises pain, and I pray for you much better. I have read the research, the Johns Hopkins studies; and the NIH Hamer research and Simon Lavey's, both universally discredited. Yes, it is not new, and yes, it is pervasive in our present culture. It is due to emotional pain, not DNA. But, as it gets deeply rooted in the psyche, it can feel predetermined. On my website (teii dot org), bottom right: "The Pain That Dares Not Speak Its Name."

[teinetwork]

Alexaswell -- thank you. All these issues are interconnected, and where the chosen absence of the biological father is the greatest social evil in history. The best means to protect the weak from predators, and providing nutrition for children on forward, is when the father honors the mother in marriage and fidelity..

[teinetwork]

Demo5 -- thank you. The matter of choice is central. I have an article on my main website, "The Pain That Dares Not Speak Its Name." I am glad for your thoughts, and may all good blessings be yours.

[teinetwork]

mike2jb -- Then where else are the constitutional rights of life, liberty and property founded?

[teinetwork]

mike2jb -- "Life, liberty and property," protected under "due process of law" are located in the 5th Amendment (in the Bill of Rights) and the 14th Amendment, and found nowhere else but in the unalienable rights given by the Creator. The context of First Amendment liberties are for individuals to exercise as individuals and as groups.

[teinetwork]

Rights, in the Constitution, are given by the Creator to people as individuals -- not to groups. "Group rights," whether the groups are defined objectively or subjectively, pit one group against another. Self-identified homosexual people have the same unalienable rights we all have -- life, liberty and property -- but that is a different matter than the interpretive debate over same-sex marriage.

[SpreaddEm]

their is actually alot of scientific evidence from biologists not just psychologists that homosexuality is not a choice. which anyone can find by doing research on wikipedia or somewhere else. which i'm sure you could probably find some church funded research to find where it wasnt. Besides that can we all use logic and commonsense and not what someone has researched. You can't deny that their aren't homosexuals and you can't say that its a new thing. Does that not tell you something.

[alexaswell]

Someone is trying to make this way too complicated. Let any qualifying adult human marry any other qualifying adult human. Who gives a rip about gender? Go spend your energy on some real issues, like protecting the weak from predators and making sure our neighbors have enough to eat.

[Demo5]

ok can someone tell me why a supposedly straight man man would choice to be attracted to othere men to the extent of marriage ? when there are so meany woman and it is looked down on in sociate why why would anyone do this ?

the choice thing is well it dont make ...

[BelieveIt1051]

@mike2jb So they have the right only so far as any "judge" at any federal level allows them? Kind of defeats the purpose of the 10th Amendment, don't you think? So that seals it. You think judges have authority over the states.

And tell me, what if the 9th Circus throws out Walker's decision because he had a conflict of interest, and what if they rule in favor of Prop 8? Are you going to suddenly agree that Prop 8 is Constitutional or are you still going to have your own opinion on the issue?

[mike2jb]

@teinetwork: "found nowhere else but in the unalienable rights given by the Creator"

-- Once again, neither the term "Creator" nor anything resembling it occurs anywhere in the US Constitution. This is pure revisionist fiction currently in vogue among the religious extremists who are trying to get a stranglehold on out republic. The current bunch are hardly the first, nor will they be the last. But they will fail like all the others.