For reference, this is the article to which I'm responding: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/sarah-palin-chick-fil-a-boycott_n_1727965.html
Dear Dan and Sarah,
As with most of the country (both conservative and liberal individuals), I have been following the media's reports on your (Mr. Cathy) statements concerning Chic-fil-A's support of anti-gay campaigns, and your (Sarah) remarks that Mr. Cathy is simply stating that he is calling for a "traditional" marriage as demanded by every religion both past and present.
Because of this, I have been pondering what each of these things means. Now, I am not one to jump to closing my mind to other peoples ideas. I am all for open discussion when it comes to things like "Should the Bible be interpreted literally?" or "Are the Bill of Rights in need of amending since they were written for a vastly different society than the one we live in now?" While I know that many liberal individuals are very quick to say to you that your ideas are invalid, I am willing to let you try to prove to me that they are actually valid.
First of all, Sarah, I'm not even sure where to begin in commenting on your statement to Fox News that "The owner of the Chick-fil-A business had merely voiced his personal opinion about supporting traditional definition of marriage, one boy, one girl, falling in love, getting married. And having voiced support for kind of that cornerstone of all civilization and all religions since the beginning of time, he then basically [is] getting crucified." Should I start with the fact that marriage in the "traditional" sense (tradition meaning something done in the same way for several generations) does not actually exist, seeing as the reasons people got married when your grandparents were young were vastly different than they are today, and most likely did not involve ANYONE falling in love, but rather in a discussio amongst two fathers who wanted to draw a personal alliance between their families? Or, maybe I should start with the fact that there are dozens of religions that actually believe in polygamy today, not to mention those that practiced polygamy before they were established as they are today. Perhaps, instead, I should discuss the fact that crucifiction would actually hurt a hell of a lot more than a little bit of negative reaction to a personal statement does. But at any rate, there are so many ways that I could point out that your statement there hasn't got a shred of validity or factual support to it, that I'm not going to bother.
But, Sarah, I do still respect that you're willing to stand up and support a cause in which you believe, even if it isn't the popular thing to do. I actually respect the fact that you and Mr. Cathy were both able to have the guts to say "I don't believe in gay-marraige because God says it's wrong!" And, I do in fact know that the Bible does indeed condemn sodomy. I was raised with the good ol' King James Version. I know exactly which passages you're refering to. However, I think that it's a little forward of you both to jump so quickly to stand by the literal interpretation of those passages, yet conveniently gloss over others that are harder to stand by and follow in a modern society.
So, since you use 7 passages from the Bible to uphold your logic against same-sex-marriage, I'd like to offer you 7 more:1) Matthew 19:24 ("And again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.")2) Deuteronomy 5:21 ("Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbor's.")3) Leviticus 11:7 ("And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.")4) Deuteronomy 5:14 ("But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.")5) Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ("And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.")6) Exodus 21:17 ("Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.")7) John 8:7 ("So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.")
So, Mr. Cathy, Ms. Palin, and all you other conservative "traditonal marriage" supporters out there, when you can prove to me that you have sold and given away all your property as commanded by Jesus in both Matthew and Mark, that you have never had a thought of jealousy over anyone else's possessions, that you are just as against the playing of football, baseball, basketball and rugby as you are against same-sex-marraige, that you do absolutely no work on Sundays and that you prohibit your family from doing the same (no cooking, cleaning, balancing checkbooks, grocery shopping, bathing, laundry, pumping gas, etc.), that the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing at night and several times throughout the day is recite the ten commandments with your family, that you have killed every single one of your children upon the instant of them talking back to you or your wife, and that you are indeed without faults of any kind, I will gladly accept that your ideals against same-sex marriage are in fact valid and reasonable. However, until the Dallas Cowboys and the Phillies and the Lakers are having to play in under-ground sports leagues for fear of persecution, until the child-mortality rate in America sky rockets due to all your Christian buddies having to put their rebellious teenagers to death when they yell "I hate you!" after you take away their beds and name-brand clothing to sell them and give the earnings to the poor (after all, God commanded it!), and until you've sold your house, businesses and all your assets, I am going to go ahead and say that you have no valid point. You can't pick and choose which of God's commandments you're willing to follow. That's not how it works, my friends. I would invite you to think on this. I would invite EVERYONE to think on this. The Bible was written in the Roman Republic by MEN - not by God himself - but by Jewish men who were trying to protect their own hides from persecution in a world full of and run by paganism. It was written in code (at least part of it) and it was written under the scrutiny of tyrants. Portions of it were lost, other portions were heavily edited, and most of it was written in a language that is now dead. Times change, politics change, and not every writen work influenced by politics can be considered to be factual and divine forever.
Sincerely,
Bee J. Reed
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