The thing about the age-old, from-the-beginning definition of marriage as between one man and one woman is that it is not an explicitly religious belief. It actually precedes any organized religion; it is written into who we are as a rational animal species separated into man and woman.
That’s why it is especially idiotic that the military is cracking down on people for expressing deviant “hateful” “religious” beliefs when they assert, even in private forums and conversations, their support for traditional marriage.
But oppression for daring to disagree with the new orthodoxy is, reportedly, happening.
According to the article, incidents of oppression against non-marriage-redefiners include, but are not limited to:
- A service member received a “severe and possibly career-ending reprimand” for expressing his faith’s religious position about homosexuality in a personal religious blog.
- An enlisted service member received a career-ending punishment for sending personal invitations to his promotion party which mentioned that he would be providing Chick-fil-A sandwiches due to his respect for the Defense of Marriage Act.
- A senior military official at Fort Campbell sent out a lengthy email officially instructing officers to recognize “the religious right in America” as a “domestic hate group” akin to the KKK and Neo-Nazis because of its opposition to homosexual behavior.
- An Air Force officer was told to remove a Bible from his desk because it might offend someone. The officer had kept the Bible on the desk for 18 years;
- A chaplain was relieved of his command over a military chapel because, consistent with DOMA’s definition of marriage, he could not allow same-sex weddings to take place in the chapel.
- An enlisted service member was threatened and denied promotion by a senior NCO for expressing – during a personal conversation – his religious belief in support of traditional marriage.
- Last month Rear Admiral William Lee told a National Day of Prayer audience that religious liberty was being threatened by Pentagon lawyers and service members are being told to hide their faith in Christ.“Leaders like myself are feeling the constraints of rules and regulations and guidance issued by lawyers that put us in a tighter and tighter box regarding our constitutional right to express our religious faith,” he said.
My how quickly the military goes from kicking out people who come out of the closet to kicking out people who hold traditional notions about marriage and homosexual activity.
You’d think that a bunch of people who previously felt they were an oppressed minority would want to show their former alleged oppressors what true tolerance looks like by showing a little magnanimity. Perhaps demonstrate the tolerance they felt they were denied, with the intention of teaching a lesson about how we can co-exist with our different views on important questions. Alas, apparently not. Heterodoxy will not be tolerated. YOU MUST APPROVE ME!
Today’s military: Shoot up a bunch of colleagues while shouting “Allahu Akbar” and later claim it was to defend the Taliban and you get charged with “workplace violence.” Privately mention that you think marriage ought to be between one man and one woman and may God have mercy on your soul.
Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?