I guess I get more confused by this debate as it goes on. 1. Part of my confusion is on the debate over the status of gay abortions in the Catholic Church. I'm not sure why we are debating the issue. Presumably if the Catholic Bishops of Boston claim to have religious reasons for not engaging in that practice, that ought to be good enough for the rest of us. Maybe a debate on that ought to go on within the Catholic Church, but most of us have no say in that debate.
2. I'm also confused why it is anti-religious to insist that all institutions that arrange for adoptions not discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. It may be wrong as a matter of public policy, but it is not anti-religious per se. Some religions believe that homosexuality is immoral (or something to that effect). My temple takes the position that discrimination against homosexuals is immoral and inconsistent with basic precepts of Judaism (other tempes disagree). We might imagine that the state might require particular parenting standards that differ from those imposed by some religions. Again, whether those parenting standards are desirable is independent of whether they are consistent with any religion. 3. In short, Massachusetts seems to believe that discrimination against same sex couples in the adoption process is (almost) as inconsistent with state values as discrimination against different race couples. I think that is correct. Rick Duncan thinks that is wrong. But our fight is on the merits of that proposition, because if I am right on the moral proposition, the religious argument seems to fall. Mark A. Graber _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
