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The Dark at the Bottom: Guns, Education and the Criminal-Corrections Industrial Complex

Islam, Civilization and Homosexuality

In 1187 Saladin destroyed the Crusader army at Hittin, capturing the holiest relic in Christendom, the True Cross upon which Jesus had been crucified. The Crusaders desperately wanted the True Cross back, placing Saladin in an excellent bargaining position. Islam maintained that the messiah was only crucified in appearance, too beloved of God to suffer so terribly. The True Cross, even assuming it was “True,” meant nothing to Islam. But it gave “the crusaders” their very name. That they were foolish enough to carry their holiest relic to Hittin was simply another marvel of Allah as wonderful as Hittin itself.

Richard Lionheart wrote to Saladin, “there are only three subjects of discord: Jerusalem, the True Cross, and territory.” He wanted Jerusalem outright and all the territory west of the Jordan. “As for the Cross, for you it is merely a piece of wood, whereas for us its value is inestimable.” He had literally ranked it with possession of the Holy Land, the casus belli of the crusades.

Saladin rejected the territorial demands out of hand. “As for the Cross, it is a great trump in our hands, and we will surrender it only in return for some important concession on behalf of Islam.” And we might say the same for the homosexual community's current possession of the issue of marriage, another religious relic, the claim to which they will relinquish only in return for some important concession on behalf of Gays. Like, oh ... maybe civil union?

Until recently, civil union, granting all the legal rights and protections of marriage without the name, was hotly rejected by conservatives. Legally recognizing the unions of same-sex couples would recognize their pair bond and make “spouses” of such unions eligible for health benefits, child custody, inheritance, income tax stuff, the whole ball of married wax. No way can Red America give this sanction of legal status to those naughty people.

Then gays in rebel towns started getting married. For reasons still mysterious, Red America (oh, the irony for us Cold War vets) apparently feels that the marriage of two women in Vermont or two men in Colorado somehow devalues heterosexual marriages everywhere. Such marriages must be very precarious, but we should remember that many of these same folks believe in an Almighty so negligent that He got Himself expelled from school. In any case, if it means keeping gays away from marriage, civil union suddenly seems most attractive. Conservatives in state legislatures are falling all over themselves dealing to get back their “True Cross,” while Jerusalem and all the territory West of the Jordan goes handily to the homosexuals — often in laws and amendments forbidding gay marriage!

Certainly, there are some homosexual couples for whom only the sacrament of some sect will do. Some are religious. Perhaps some just seek the acknowledgment of their particular creed, most of which is probably negative as it is; growing downright hateful as the marriage quest is pressed.

But for most gays, civil union is the Prize. They want the legal status. God, as ever, will know his own.

Text © Travis Charbeneau

© 1999 - 2008 by Martin Willett.

mwillett.org: Debate Unlimited