Marriage Poll

[wastepanel]

Ahhhh....

Finally...this thread has erupted into defining "liberal" and "conservative". I'm glad that whenever anybody discusses something political, those 2 words are likely to be thrown out.

 

[Upchurch]

While I totally agree with you in principle, the terms used actually identify how we identify ourselves.

...and that's the best I could do.

The current forum settings only allow for a maximum of 20 different options. I could hardly do a sliding scale and still get all the parameters in. I'd need at least 36 options if I were to get more specific like "I am generally socially (liberal/moderate/conservative), fiscally (liberal/moderate/conservative), (religious/non-religious), and I (do/do not) support SSM."

It just a rough indicator anyway, not a percise measurement.

 

[Piggy]

I wonder how many people who consider themselves conservative really give a rat's backside about the gay marriage issue?

You obviously don't live in Georgia. Around here, the right-wing Xian "base" -- which is a helluva lot of people -- really believe that this is vitally important. Even many "moderates" (who are still right-wing on a national or global scale) vehemently oppose SSM, which is why the state constitutional amendment to ban SSM passed with 76% approval. The evangelicals, and there are hundreds of thousands of them here (millions nationwide), believe that God will not bless the country if we allow SSM. For them, this is not a mere social issue, not even a civil rights issue. It is about God's eternal law.

And Georgia is not a small state. There are over 9 million people here. That's just over 3% of the US population in a nation with 50 states, making it the 9th most populous state in the union.

And given what's happening politically, socially, and (non)intellectually in Kansas, Texas, Oregon, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and all across the country, I don't think Georgia is an exception.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I was wondering if only certain Christian factions felt that way, Piggy. Clearly the vocal Evangelical crowd does. I'm on the West Coast and many churchgoers around here are a bit less concerned about gays. Who knows though.

 

[TobiasTheViking]

well, since there were no "I am communist bastage, non-religious, and for SSM" i have chosen "I am liberal, non-religious, and for SSM"

 

[Piggy]

I was wondering if only certain Christian factions felt that way, Piggy. Clearly the vocal Evangelical crowd does. I'm on the West Coast and many churchgoers around here are a bit less concerned about gays. Who knows though.

West Coast is probably very different. And y'all have your share of population out there, so maybe it balances out somewhere in the middle. As pointed out above, tho, there is definitely a correlation w/ age, so it's very likely things will continue to soften up.

But my mother, who would likely be considered liberal by most any standard, has said she'll leave the church if they support SSM or ordination of gays.

 

[Piggy]

The colorful folkways of ignorance and bigotry

Re whether homosexuality is of genuine concern in the US, look up the Southern Baptist Convention's recent "Exit Strategy" (aka "Exodus Mandate") to remove kids from public schools. Their 2 biggest beefs are:

* Promotion of the idea that homosexuality is not immoral;
* Teaching of evolution.

In April they unveiled the "Homosexuality School Risk Audit".

An April 25 press release on the resolution asserts that the public school system "is indoctrinating children with cultural Marxism and dogmatic Darwinism, devoting increasing time and resources to instructing children in the colorful folkways of homosexuality".

Suppoters claim that the schools are controlled by people "who wish to destroy our God, our country and our children" and that the schools "are raising up warriors for homosexual activism rather than warriors for Jesus Christ".

This is a direct outgrowth of last year's "resolution urging churches and parents to investigate their public schools to determine, among other things, whether they are endangering children in their care by collaborating with homosexual activists."

This is my reality. This is what I live, day in and day out. It scares the hell out of me, and I'm straight!

 

[RandFan]

To date:

Planet X: 16
Against: 13
For: 160

 

[SaintDymphna]

I'm certainly a liberal but only sometimes religious and am for same sex marriage. It makes me furious that this is even an issue in the year 2006. In the USA. Wow.

 

[Upchurch]

I'm still rather surprised at the low conservative numbers. Is that because the board is disproportionatly self-identified as moderate and liberal or did the conservatives of the board just simply not vote in this pole?

 

[Upchurch]

I'm still rather surprised at the low conservative numbers. Is that because the board is disproportionatly self-identified as moderate and liberal or did the conservatives of the board just simply not vote in this pole?

Continuing this thought in a new thread.

The really early numbers suggests that, socially, the majority of the board is either moderate or liberal. Since this is a social question, it wouldn't surprise me if people named their political stance from that context.