What has happened today in Ireland is absolutely astonishing and historically unprecedented. In the once
Catholic-dominated Republic of Ireland, same-sex activity was illegal
until 1993. But today the people have, in an unusually high turnout,
overwhelmingly voted to allow gay marriage. This makes the Republic of
Ireland the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote
(and is indicative of what would occur if national referendums on
same-sex marriage were held in other nations, including the U.S.). This
is also a profound rejection of the anti-dignity and anti-equality
teachings of the Church.
Congratulations Ireland!
Congratulations Ireland!
Photograph: Robin English/Demotix/Corbis
1 Comments:
The situations of Ireland and the US are quite different. The US has been relatively free of collusion between only one church and the government, while Ireland actually had a place for the RC Church in relation to its government. In Ireland's case, this led to a large number of cases of misuse of power by the RCs, particularly in relation to "bad" (i.e. pregnant before marriage) girls with many other different examples.
Note the parallel with Quebec: the RC establishment acted as if it was the day-to-day manger of all the peasants. Quebec overthrew that hegemony in 1960. The Irish have no basically done the same.
The USAans have not experienced direct church rule since the individual states gave up "state" religions in the early 1800's. If certain evangelicals have their way, state-enforced religion would be a huge negative experience, and would probably, in the end, lead to the dismantling of most churches, as we see in Ireland today.
Why do you think Massachusetts is the most liberal state? I think you can trace it back to the Puritan hard-line rule of the early-settler era.
Post a Comment
<< Home