Hyperbole Watch--Alain's Newsletter

I've received this e-flash from Alain's Newsletter dated 10/21/06. Alain's Newsletter takes a militant fundamentalist Christian approach to political issues.

The item:

>>>Sexual orientation is flexible, right?

Marriage - I want to marry three men, six women, four children (ages ranging from seven to ten), two dogs and a mule. And I want insurance and benefits for all of them. You do not like it, hate crime!!! Go to jail, get fined.

Let me say first that even as a self-confessed liberal, I also have many libertarian sympathies; thus I want to note that I often respectfully differ with some of my liberal counterparts about the size and scope of government, but not in this case. I hope you will take this into consideration as I address Alain's hyperbole.

What Alain (and who is this mysterious Alain fellow, anyway?) has overlooked in his headlong plunge down the slippery slope is that we in America require people to give informed consent prior to entering into a marriage (or marriage-type relationship). I was asked "do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband" at my marriage ceremony--weren't you?? (For males at this time, "woman" and "wife" are of course the operative words.)

We should keep that requirement in place.

We also have laws on the books which address potential sexual contact with minors. The reason we have those laws is that We The People believe--and rightly so--that children aren't mature enough to physically accommodate or emotionally cope with sexual relationships, and there are firm scientific foundations for these premises. Thus, we deem children *legally* incapable of giving informed consent to participate in such relationships and give children legal protection. Our American laws which make it a criminal offense for adults to have sexual contact with minors are GOOD LAWS which should remain firmly in place, and should even be strengthened wherever possible.

IMO, the same types of laws that protect children from predatory sexual practices should also apply to non-human creatures. Beings of another species are simply not capable of granting informed consent to such relationships.

I would like to point out to Alain that the Bible places no prohibition on the age limit at which a male may have sexual contact with a female. Thus, Alain, why aren't you standing up to make *heterosexual* pedophilia legal?? Because you know it's wrong. Even though the Bible doesn't say it's wrong, other sources inform you that it's wrong, and you choose (thankfully) to believe them. But since you don't use the Bible as *your* sole source of legal authority, why do you favor forcing others to do so?

In another example, the Bible does not speak out against polygamy until New Testament times; thus, we have some fundamentalist Mormons giving the Old Testament authority in that area of their lives. Christians do this, too, in other matters (especially sexual matters).

While Christian conservatives are determined to have the Bible be the sole source of American laws, the reader will note that the Bible is sorely lacking in actual rhetoric which offers women--half the population!--protection from predatory sexual practices.

We need to grow up as a species and take responsibility for the laws we make. We need to stop passing the buck to an absent god.

As so many of us have seen, that "god" is not the fair and just being that so many of his followers make him out to be.