Friday, June 26, 2015

Supreme Court extends same-sex marriage nationwide - indeed, America is for freedom

Every human has a God given right to eat, drink, wear and believe whatever he or she wants, and marry whoever he or she wants. Some among us may not agree with the idea of same sex marriage, but that is the ultimate freedom. Freedom guaranteed to one is freedom guaranteed to all.

When God gave the options to Adam and Eve and explained the consequences of eating the forbidden fruit, and yet they chose to eat it, God did not stop them or slapped them for the wrong doing (at that time), instead God lived up to his word. That is when the freedom took seed and it is God given.

Freedom is a God given gift that we should cherish! God could have stopped Lucifer from tempting Adam and Eve, he could have stopped Adam from consuming the forbidden fruit, and he could have prevented Jesus from the crucifix, Moses did not have to speak up against Pharaoh, Muhammad (pbuh) did not have to endure persecution. God Almighty could have stopped everyone in the tract, but he did not, he gave us the freedom to choose how we deal with conflicts and restore harmony.

If Hilary gets elected as President, America would have achieved the ideals laid out by the founding fathers - that we are all created equal. Indeed, each one of us should have the equal opportunities and equal access to everything.

Congratulations to the GLBT community, now they can live freely without apprehension. I hope the Evangelical Imams don't issue any Fatwas against this or blame this SC decision for the water crisis in California.

Once again, we appreciate President Obama to open the first official door.

Dr. Omid Safi reflects on Same-sex Marriage :
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Let me pause, though, and say a word about what I have witnessed in the last few days about the Muslim public discourse regarding same-sex marriage and the Supreme Court ruling. I have been impressed by what I see as increased nuance in our public discourse from many people, including many who are personally and religiously opposed to homosexuality but recognize the importance of the state not imposing exclusionary practices on citizens.

However, there is one item that I am concerned about, and I would add, disappointed in regarding a number of these public statements. I have seen quite a few Muslim leaders articulate something along the lines of "From the perspective of mainstream, normative Islamic law, any type of sexual union outside of marriage is unethical and immoral."

If that is what we are going to state publicly, then let us be honest and transparent and state that this normative Islamic law also included--and includes--the possibility of concubines and polygamy.

Both are sanctioned in the Qur'an, and in Islamic law. Neither is likely to be viewed with great favor in the public discourse, which is why I suspect Muslims leave them off of our discussion.

Naturally, I have no interest in advocating for concubinage or polygamy: in the case of the first a hierarchical institution and in the case of second one that is open to many kinds of abuse (though I recognize there are times that it may work for some, and God knows better than I do.).

But yes, if our appeal is going to be to existing, historical "mainstream, normative law", then we have to be willing to publicly defend and stand by concubinage and polygamy. To leave them off and pretend that "traditional" sanctioned models of Islamic marriage only include that between one man and one woman united in marriage is at best intellectually weak and at worst dishonest. The same thing goes, of course for others who present a "Biblical" model of marriage.

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Thank you,
Mike Ghouse
AmericansTogether.org
(214) 325-1916

Mike is a speaker, thinker, writer, pluralist, TV-Radio commentator and a human rights activist committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. His info in 63 links atMikeGhouse.net and writings at TheGhouseDiary.com

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Supreme Court extends same-sex marriage nationwide

http://cjonline.com/news/2015-06-26/latest-supreme-court-extends-same-sex-marriage-nationwide

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America together, Americans Together is an educational and pragmatic initiative to wean out myths from reality that is hurting the social cohesiveness of America. The myths are vigorously pumped in by a few insecure souls from among the right wingers to disrupt delicate balance in the society by pitching one American against the other for their perceived gains.

The purpose of this “America Together” is to remove such myths in an open discussion forum and restore the cohesiveness of our society and work towards building a safe and secure America.

As a society, it is our responsibility to keep law and order and faithfully guard the safety of every citizen. Hate is one of the many sources of disrupting the peace in a society and it is our duty to track down the source of such hate and work on mitigating it.

Since our independence in 1776, we have been tested time and again by various political, economic and religious forces to divide us, however, at the end we have come out strong as one nation. The Civil War, the Great Depression, the World War, Pearl Harbor, Women’s rights, Abortion, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, Budget Deficits, Unemployment, 9/11, the Iraq and Afghanistan War have all been difficult, but we will make it through and sanity will prevail.

We have come a long way to embrace and accept the otherness of other and we have a whole lot more to go; in the coming months we will be holding meetings to understand the complexity of issues such as Gay & Lesbian acceptance, Quraanic Verses, Anti-Semitism, Stereotyping, Racial profiling and hope to find answers that will lead to accepting the otherness of other to co-exists in harmony despite our differences.

To the naysayers, we say, if we don’t do a thing about it, nothing good can be expected to happen.

The Foundation for Pluralism and the World Muslim Congress are taking the initiatives to mitigate conflicts and nurture goodwill in building cohesive societies for America and have planned on two conferences dealing with the issues; the first one is Qur’aan Conference and the next one is on understanding Homosexuality and the role of religion in it.

It is time now to replace the ill-will with goodwill; no American has to live in anxieties, discomfort or fear of the other. Our mission is to restore the cohesiveness of our society and work towards building a safe and secure America.

Mike Ghouse for a cohesive America
America together
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