One of the major plot points of the upcoming presidential election has been this perceived "war on religion." According to three of the four candidates running for the Republican nomination (Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum), there is a bias against Christians rising up in this country that is making it harder for them to live.
First of all, let me just say that if you're a Christian, what follows from this point is not aimed at you, but at the Christian fundamentalists who think that their way of life is falling apart. If that includes you, know that it isn't personal, but something you need to hear.
This "war on religion" is complete and utter bullshit meant to direct hostilities at liberal-minded people who think this country needs to get out of its dark age-mentality. I'm nowhere being a liberal, atheistic democrat; in fact, I'm a conservative-minded person who attended Christian school throughout the first third of my life, and have been raised in a very conservative family with Christian values.
This "war on religion" is utter crap, and you and everyone you know needs to realize it.
Many of these religious fundamentalists who are spreading the word of this "war on religion" do so based on some issues: that gay people are now getting the right to get married across the country, and that their religious way of life is no longer the gold standard that is forced upon others.
This isn't a "war" in any way whatsoever. This country was founded not on Christian values, but on the ideal that you can believe (or disbelieve) in any God(s) that you so choose to, and not be forced to be prejudiced because you chose not to believe in a fairy tale.
Gay people are exactly what their name implies: people. They are deserving of every single right you or I, as Americans, are born into. The right to be free of prejudice and discrimination, and not have religious belief shoved down their throat. For the entirety of this country, gay people have been unable to get married across the board, because of religious belief. Many people raise the issue "Well, it's not natural." Actually, on the contrary, it is very normal for other animals to practice homosexual beliefs, making it a very normal thing to happen in nature. In fact, if you believe it is not "natural," I recommend you this link to read at your pleasure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals.
Another argument against gay marriage is that it violates the "sanctity" of marriage, and has nothing to do with religion. Need I remind you what the definition of "sanctity" is: the state or quality of being holy, sacred, or saintly. By this very definition, "sanctity" is completely religious. To deprive millions of people of basic human rights because you feel that gay marriage violates some sort of undefined religious law is absurd, and something that should have been outdated when Enlightenment started 500 years ago and we transcended the Dark Ages. Also, to those that claim that gay marriage isn't the "traditional" form of marriage, need I remind you that it was a "tradition" for black people to be sold as slaves for centuries, and it was a "tradition" for women to be oppressed for even longer? Tradition should mean shit in this country when countered with equal rights.
Gay people are people, and deserve every single right given to you or me. Them being able to marry doesn't affect me or you in the slightest: it doesn't change our rent payments, it doesn't put more or less money in my pocket, and it most certainly doesn't mean that young children will start "becoming gay" because of it. It's already been proven that homosexuality is an unchangeable trait, as much as heterosexuality is, and I'd rather know that my child, if gay, was living a happy life out in the open, rather than having to suppress those urges and live a half-life.
Onto the next issue, I need to point out that, in no point in American history, have white Christians been hunted down and targeted, beaten, murdered, or raped because of their beliefs (individual instances notwithstanding). This has happened multiple times to not only gay people, but Muslims, Jews, and people of different races and colors, including others. White Christians have, and will (for the foreseeable future), be safe from widespread discrimination.
So stop whining about this "war on religion."
John Stewart from The Daily Show put it best, in that there's a difference between a "war on religion" and not always getting what you want. This is something that applies directly to Christian fundamentalists, who view the fact that people are sick of the centuries of prejudice and religion being shoved down their throats as a "war."
Not being able to force other people to stick by your ancient book's stereotypes and gender roles doesn't mean that you're being hunted down and murdered, as Fox News would have you believe. It just means that other people would like to live with religious freedom in this country, as it explicitly states in our Bill of Rights, such as the religious folk do. We, as a large majority, would like to be able to marry who we want without someone's religious intolerance holding us down. I'm not gay, but I can understand many homosexual's anger with being told that they can't get married because someone miles away thinks it's "wrong" in some way.
There is no "war on religion." It is a war cry being used by many on the Conservative side of the coin to start a frenzy and gain support for their fundamentalist theories and beliefs. Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich would have you believe that Christians were being lined up and shot by gay atheists, simply because those people want the same rights given to them. When you really think about it, doesn't that sound ridiculous? Take whatever religious beliefs you have and set them aside (if any), and just consider how ironic and ass-backwards that sounds.
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