Tea at Trianon: The Social Consequences of Same-Sex "Marriage"

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The Social Consequences of Same-Sex "Marriage"

From The Christian Post:

The end result, Professor George said, is that true equality among citizens and religious freedom is undermined. The concept of dignity, used by the Supreme Court in its decisions advancing homosexual practice and homosexual marriage, will be used to overcome claims of religious liberty and conscience. Conscience protection will be claimed to cause "dignitarian harm." He maintained that there cannot now be, nor ever could there be, any "grand bargain" between sexual traditionalists and sexual revolutionaries, with new sexual relationships approved by society and the conscience rights of traditionalists respected. There may indeed be temporary concessions in conscience protections, but granting them is merely tactical, and they will be taken away when it is thought politically possible.

Sexual issues, and homosexuality in particular, are the presenting issue in the conflict between Christianity and secular liberalism, George maintained. While the liberal legal theorist John Rawls is extolled by contemporary liberals as providing the way forward for contemporary secular society, George held that Rawls advocated a mere "political" liberalism, "romantically" hoping to forestall a "comprehensive" liberalism that not only cuts government loose from any transcendent basis but attempts to give meaning and value to all of life on a non-transcendent, or secular, basis. He claimed that while there are, and will be, political liberals who advocate for liberty of conscience for traditionalists, they will lose their battle with the comprehensive liberals. In the case for homosexual marriage, it will be claimed the "full equality" means social acceptance, not just legal equality, and this cannot happen if traditionalists are free to decline to contribute to or support activities they believe immoral. More generally, it would seem that political liberals will lose because they do not offer a moral basis for society, whereas comprehensive liberals do propose one.

Because comprehensive liberalism must cover all of life, not only is Christian morality unacceptable in the public square in the provision of goods and services, employment, and housing, but the Christian subculture of religious schools, medical, and charitable institutions must be destroyed as well.
(Read more.)