Maybe There Is a God

The Supreme Court has ruled that marriage equality is the rule of the land in all fifty states.  This ruling was not a big surprise, because most constitutional scholars have predicted this outcome for some time.  But theists across the country are suffering from great distress because they no longer get to impose their ridiculous beliefs about who is allowed to marry upon the rest of us.  Mike Huckabee says this is "an out-of-control act of unconstitutional, judicial tyranny".

No, Governor.  What's out of control is the ability of one group of people with superstitious beliefs to rule the lives of others, in opposition to the very principles our country was founded upon.  I seriously doubt the former governor of Arkansas and many others like him have any real understanding of what the constitution is for.  And it is unfortunate that even Supreme Court justices like Alito, Thomas, and Scalia are willing to place their own political and religious agenda above the constitution.  In his dissent, Scalia called this decision "a threat to American democracy".  This is the very same justice who remarked, after the ruling that the state of Florida had no right to count the votes of its citizens in the 2000 presidential election in accordance with its own constitution, "Get over it."  You won't find a single word in the US Constitution that supports Scalia on either score.

Here are some things we can expect after this ruling: 

    - The institution of marriage will not be destroyed.  If anything, it will actually gain from having more participants than before.  And if you believe that marriage is for opposite-sex couples, then by all means, get married to someone of the opposite sex.  That's the great thing about freedom.  You get to live in accordance with your beliefs.  You just don't get to impose them on others when it is against their beliefs.

    - The country will not sink into some abyss of immorality.  Gay sex has been happening all along, and that's not going to change.  But people will be able to openly acknowledge who they love, instead of hiding it and lying about it.  But overall, nobody will be doing anything different that somehow reduces the general level of morality from what it is already.  And I can't stress this enough:  If you think people shouldn't have gay sex, then don't do it.

    - Life will go on.  You can bet that at some point there will be a natural disaster or some big event that results in many deaths, and the religious hucksters will blame it on the immorality that has befallen us.  But those things happen, regardless of any Supreme Court ruling.  The US military didn't fall apart when gays were allowed to serve openly, and neither will our country.  In fact, things in the military are pretty much the same, except that the witch hunts have stopped.

Well, now it's time for Scalia and Huckabee and religious ideologues across the country to "Get over it."  At least in this case, the constitution has withstood the onslaught of religious marauders who would bend it to their own barbaric purposes.  This is about freedom.  It's about equality.  And it's a great day for our country.  It almost makes me think someone is watching out for us.


Update:  I originally included a quote, that the decision "nothing to do with the Constitution" that was wrongly attributed to Scalia (in a CNN report - that statement was made by Chief Justice Roberts).  I have changed the quote to a different statement that Scalia actually made in his dissent.