(**Note: I know this isn't timely. I wrote it a while back, and I've just been too lazy to post it.)
Hey, there. Thanks for stopping by. I’d like to introduce you to my friend. Let’s call him…Cecil. Where is Cecil? Why, he’s standing right in front of you. Of course you can’t see him, silly. Cecil is invisible, but he’s there – mark my words. Can I see him? Of course I can’t. Like I said, he’s invisible. How do I know he’s there? Why, I just know. Like George Michael said, "I gotta have faith."
Imagine, if you will, an adult with an invisible friend. Close your eyes and think of someone you know. It doesn’t matter who you picture. Maybe it’s someone you’re close to. Maybe it’s just an acquaintance. Maybe it’s the guy a few offices down with that horrible phlegm problem. No matter who it is, just keep your eyes closed and picture having the above conversation with them. Got it? Great. Now we’re going to talk about Prop 8. (Trust me – it all comes together.)
I don’t live in California. There was a time I really, really wanted to live in California. In retrospect I’m glad it didn’t work out. Subsequent visits to the golden state have shown it to be, in my estimation, largely vacuous and devoid of a soul, but that’s a discussion for another time. Despite not living in California, I feel like I have something at stake in the debate over Prop 8.
Before I go any further, I should probably spell out Prop 8 quickly in case you’re unaware. Prop 8 was essentially an attempt to change the California State Constitution to define "marriage" as being solely between a man and a woman, thus eliminating same-sex marriage. It was put to a vote November 4th, and the measure was accepted by a majority of Californians. The aftermath of Prop 8 has been a great degree of protesting, finger-pointing and name-calling.
I’m vehemently opposed to Prop 8. I find it ironic that while we celebrated the election of a black president, a huge leap forward in the saga of civil rights, a majority of Californians also voted to restrict the rights of homosexuals. Strange, but hey – that’s America for you. I don’t believe in discrimination of any stripe. I fail to see how the marriage of Joe and Mike or Cindy and Sally has any negative bearing on my life. Two people love each other? Fantastic. Best of luck to you both. The more love and happiness we can propagate on this fucked up rock, the better. Of course, not everyone stood up against Prop 8. It passed, so it obviously has its supporters. These supporters are myriad, and their reasons for backing this measure are many. However, when one analyzes the numbers, it’s clear who the biggest opponents of Prop 8 were. Which brings me back to Cecil.
(Note : here’s a link to the Prop 8 Wikipedia page, in case you care to argue about my conclusions regarding voter demographics. While Wikipedia is not a reliable source in and of itself, there are a ton of links to jump from. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_8_(2008) )
That person you pictured earlier, the one with the invisible friend named Cecil, let’s get back to them. You can’t see Cecil. Every ounce of common sense you possess tells you that Cecil isn’t real. Cecil is, to put it bluntly, a figment of this person’s imagination. However, this person refuses to swallow your argument. They believe so strongly that Cecil exists, against all evidence, that it’s clear their mind will not be changed. If I were in this situation, this would be the point where I would make the following statement: "Friend, it’s obvious that your relationship with Cecil is very important to you. I respect that. I, on the other hand, do not share your view and ask you to respect me in kind." That should be the end of the story, right? Your friend goes his way, murmuring to Cecil under his breath, and you go yours. Case closed. Except when it isn’t. Imagine now that your friend isn’t content with this outcome. He produces for you a ream of paper, scribbled with doctrines and edicts and a litany of rules covering everything from hygiene to genealogy to an afterlife. You begin to read this manuscript, and proceed to have a conversation that goes something like this:
You – "Dude, what is this?"
Friend – "Cecil wrote it. It’s a book of laws."
You – "You totally wrote this."
Friend – "No, I didn’t."
You – "Yes, you did. It’s in your handwriting."
Friend – "Cecil worked through me. He works in mysterious ways."
You – "I’m only a few pages in, but I can already see that you’ve overused the word ‘begat’".
Friend – "You really need to follow these rules."
You – "No, I don’t."
Friend – "Yes, you do. Cecil demands it."
You – "Cecil isn’t real."
Friend – "Yes he is. I have proof."
You – "What proof?"
Friend – "It says he’s real right there in Cecil’s book of laws."
You – "Are you kidding me?"
Friend – "Do you really think I overused ‘begat’?"
You – "The book is wrong. Not to mention it was you who wrote it."
Friend – "The book is never wrong. I have proof."
You – "What proof?"
Friend – "The book says it’s never wrong. So there you have it. It’s all very airtight."
So now this person you pictured has this great relationship with an invisible friend named Cecil, who apparently has a thing for illogical and convoluted rules. In addition, this person now thinks that Cecil’s rules are so fantastic everyone should follow them, whether they want to or not. Imagine being forced to live your life according to the weird rules and baseless, circular logic of someone else’s invisible friend. Welcome to the United States of America in the year 2008.
I’m going to get a few things off my chest right now. I’m not providing links to back this stuff up, because frankly I’m lazy. If you disagree with something, look it up and prove me wrong. First of all, this is not a Christian nation. It never was, and it was never intended to be. Many of the founding fathers were deists. A few, Jefferson especially, took great pains to point out their distaste for Christianity. Christians don’t have a patent on the word "God". Second, your values are not the measuring stick you imagine them to be. For examples I point you to Fred Phelps, Larry Craig and any evangelist you see on television. Third, the bible is a book. So is The Cat in the Hat and Bleak House. I don’t ask you to live your life according to Dickens, so don’t ask me to live my life according to your fiction of choice. I’m done now. Yes, I feel much better.
Prop 8 is nothing but an attempt to legislate an archaic and vulgar morality. I don’t see how you make the leap from, "judge not, lest you be judged" to passing moral judgement on thousands of your fellow human beings. I don’t understand how you can hold up a bible as a moral compass, when that compass is filled with subjugation, murder, genocide, rape, slavery and a multitude of "sins" which appear to be sanctioned as long as they’re committed in god’s name. I know the idea of "respecting" people’s religion is in vogue, but it’s a game I no longer like to play. I respect an individual’s right to practice whatever religion they choose, or not practice religion at all for that matter. What I don’t have to do is respect the tenants of their belief.
Let me tell you a quick story. I was talking to a devout Christian not long ago, and she was talking at length about the "oppression" of Christian missionaries in predominantly Muslim countries. She was appalled that this Muslim majority would attempt to impose its values on these poor Christians. This same person later commented on Prop 8 that America has a Christian majority, and that Americans should live according to the prevailing Christian values. When I asked her if she saw anything glaringly hypocritical in these two statements, she had no idea what I was alluding to.
Why Christians? I hear this question a lot. Truth be told, I don’t believe in any religion. I think they’re all equal in their lack of logic and the utter ridiculousness of their claims. I pick on Christianity because that’s what I have experience with. I’ve never had a Jew or Muslim try to tell me how to live my life. I’ve never had a Buddhist tell me I was destined for a mythical land of fire to suffer for eternity. A Hindu has never told me that my gay friends are somehow less of a human being than they are. In a nutshell, that’s "Why Christians".
I need to wrap this up before tangents beget (giggle) tangents.
In conclusion, I judge people by the people that they are. I judge people by the goodness, or lack of goodness, in their hearts. I have many Christian friends. I don’t want to give the wrong impression of myself. I respect their right to their belief, and they respect mine. Most of these people don’t use their faith to prop up their own bigotry, and maybe this is why we get along. Let’s face it, using the bible to condemn homosexuals is just that – giving your own hatred a sense of legitimacy. "But the Bible says…" is a cop out. Do you stone your child to death if they’re disobedient? You should. (It’s in there, look it up – Deuteronomy.) These Christian friends don’t jam their beliefs down my throat and we get along like gangbusters. That’s how it should be, really - everyone judging each other on their merits. Sadly, many see the world through a clouded lens of racism passed down through generations, or long held tenants of dated and hateful religious dogma. This is our world, and we change it slowly and incrementally as we progress and evolve (yeah, I said it) as a species. Remember that in our not too distant past, women and minorities were denied the right to vote, mixed-race marriages were forbidden and we bought and sold our fellow man. We’ve come a long way, and it’s clear we still have a long way to go. We won’t get there by embracing a culture of fear, ignorance and hate. Hopefully I’ll be around to see those last vestiges of ancient ignorance fall by the wayside.
