Backers of gay marriage ban find tepid response in pews

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/16/national/16MARR.html?ex=1085284800&en=5cb69c2138e73342&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Just four months after an alliance of conservative Christians was threatening a churchgoer revolt unless President Bush championed an amendment banning same-sex marriage, members say they have been surprised and disappointed by what they call a tepid response from the pews.

....

Still, the opponents of gay marriage say they are puzzling over why such a volatile cultural issue is not spurring more rank-and-file conservative Christians to rise up in support of the amendment. They are especially frustrated, they say, because opinion polls show that a large majority of voters oppose gay marriage.

"Our side is basically asleep right now," Matt Daniels, founder of the Alliance for Marriage, which helped draft the proposed amendment, said in an interview last week.

The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition, said: "I don't see any traction. The calls aren't coming in and I am not sure why."

<more>

Not to mention the fact that most people have a lot more on their minds right now than the threat of homosexuals being able to marry.

The whole thing will be decided in the Supreme Court someday, similar to Roe v Wade. Gays will no doubt win. The Gop tactic has always been: vote for me because I hate the people you hate...but don't mind my hand in your wallet the whole time, and never mind the loss of your own rights and liberties; you need to give some of them up so we can deny them to the people we hate...just keep on hating, and leave everything else to the good old GOP!

Just because someone is a Christian does'nt mean they are necessarily stupid, although there are clearly many among them who have stopped thinking...much easier to simply BELIEVE. Maybe they are finally catching on.


I hope so.

conservative people to find that they might not approve of gay marriage but they have a <insert here: niece, two guys that are clients, the "boys" that bought the house next door, daughter and her partner,etc.> that are gay and "they are just the nicest people" and that what the "Traditional Values" proponents are saying is just mean. They are seeing a disconnect between the spewed hate and the local people they know and like.

"...opponents of gay marriage say they are puzzling over why such a volatile cultural issue is not spurring more rank-and-file conservative Christians to rise up in support of the amendment"

Uh, maybe because many Christians, despite their own personal failings, really believe it is wrong to "remove the mote from your brother's eye when there is a beam in your own" and remember, in good faith, from time to time, the warning "judge not lest you be judged" ... ?

Or, because (duh!) "saving traditional marriage" really has nothing to do with a few gay folks: "saving traditional marriage" would really mean ending adultery and divorce, and the rightwing (for some mysterious reason) doesn't want to call for a constitutional amendment against either of those ... ?

Chimpy and Co. were really hoping that they could ride this issue into re-election as a distraction from Iraq and the economy (which is not recovering--the job creation figures are bogus).

What they, and the primitives pushing the issue, fail to realize, is that they're far behind the mainstream, and even the relatively conservative fringes. Far enough that the whole thing could wind up working against them--now THAT would be sweet!

:hi: