Tonight I present polar opposite stories that just serve to point out how utterly stupid some people can be. Now before you jump to conclusions about who I think is being dumb here, READ!
First up, a trip down to south Florida where Tom Monagham (founder of Dominos Pizza) is building Ave Maria University. It's a privately funded roman catholic school with a curriculum of faith based learning. So far, so good. A developer is building a town next to the university with a huge (1100 seat) roman-catholic church at it's center. No problem there. Tom himself and the developer have stated emphatically that ALL (faiths, races) are welcome to live, learn or teach here. Great! The problem comes when word gets out that the founders might request that the town be 'sin free.' By this, as clarified by the founders, they mean adult type businesses are requested to stay away(IE porno shops, adult theaters, topless bars, etc.) and stores setting up shops in the town limits are requested to abide by roman-catholic beliefs by not selling contraceptives and such. (Bring in the lawyers!) Now, according to various pundits and civil rights advocates this amounts to absolute heresy! We are stomping on free speech, free enterprise and the all-american right to buy condoms. And by doing this we are probably telling gays and minorities that they are just not welcome. Gimme a break! Just because someone wants to build what in their mind is an idyllic community does not give anyone the right to assume that it's an underhanded attempt to build an all white, catholic, straight town. We are so quick to judge that the barbs were flying before the newsprint was dry on the page. Of course, I'm certain that if someone were to plan a community based on interracial marriage, gay rights and swing parties, the religious right would jump into full scale 'kill the sinners' mode. Just goes to show that you can't please all of the people ever and some people just don't want anybody outside of their circle of happiness to have their own kind of fun.
Our second story concerns the Roman Catholic bishops of Massachussetts who have asked that the churches' adoption agencies be exempted from state law requiring some adoptive children to be placed with gay parents. (Hands on cheeks in bad imitation of "Home Alone.") Heavens no!!!! Placing children in need with loving parents? MUST.... STOP..... NOW! OK, so the point is that the Pope himself has declared gay adoptions as 'gravely immoral.' The bishops claim that the state law takes away their religious freedom by requiring them to consider gay couples as adoptive parents. This from the bunch who rarely consider the right of young men not to have their booties popped by horny ol' priests. But I digress. Apparently the bishops haven't convinced everyone that they are right. Seven members of the Catholic Charities Board resigned their posts to protest the Bishops' request. It seems the board members think the bishops' position "undermines their moral priority of helping vulnerable children find loving homes." Halleluiah!!! Somebody has seen the light. In a nation brimming with needy, unwanted and unloved children and childless, loving couples willing to devote their lives to raising them, the last thing we need is the moral religious right trying to get out giving everyone a chance at being a loving, adoptive parent. Now, don't get me wrong. I have a great respect for people who stick to their religious guns. However....I don't think this is the time. In a time when adoption in the U.S. has become so restrictive that alot of couples choose to adopt from outside the country, the last thing we need is one more hang-up. Not that I have a problem with the growing trend of celebrities adopting from China and various third world countries. But can't we save a little more charity for home?
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