State's 300-year win streak against church continues
May 19, 2004
BY NEIL STEINBERG SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Opening shot
A headline on the front page of USA Today Tuesday referred to the "gay-marriage debate.'' What gay-marriage debate? Is anyone debating anything? Presenting facts and arguments? I don't think so. On one side we have religious intolerance, which has curled up for so long in the lap of government that it feels like it belongs there. On the other, there are we who believe individuals should not be denied civil rights by government because of who they are.
And you know what? We're winning. If you look at the history of our country over the past 300 years, it is the story of prying the white-knuckled grip of faith off the throat of civic life.
If you doubt how the gay marriage "debate'' will end up, I have two words for you: blue laws.
Remember blue laws? Stores were closed on Sunday because Sunday was the Sabbath. Not only was it in the Bible, it was in the 10 Commandments -- "Honor the Sabbath to keep it holy. ...''
What happened to the Sabbath? How is it we can go to Jewel on Sunday and buy beer? How did something unimaginable for centuries become unquestioned practice during my lifetime?
Economics -- stores make money being open -- and the steady erosion of religious dogma. Combine the money to be made by hotels, florists and caterers at gala gay weddings with the fact that most Americans really don't want to embed religious intolerance into the Constitution, and the outcome is clear. The only sad thing is we normals have to wait patiently while all the Bible-waving wackos adjust themselves to this. A process which, by my calculations, should take about a decade.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/steinberg/cst-nws-stein19.html
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