Marriage Equality Succeeds In States Where Religion Matters Less / Queerty Should have been obvious to everyone but now, but religion really is the number one thing holding back equality for the community in the United States and around the world. The most religious regions of the country are the most homophobic, especially if those religions are Baptist/Evangelical Protestant or Mormon. The most religious state in the country is Mississippi, which also has the most homophobic population based on how it voted on marriage equality- a whopping 86% of Mississippians voted for a hateful constitutional amendment enshrining bigotry in their state constitution. Over 70% support in every county. Meanwhile Vermont, the least religious state in the country, was the first to start the whole ball rolling on this issue when they signed civil unions into law back in 2000. How do we deal with this issue, especially in a religious country like the U.S.? Fortunately we're slowly but steadily secularizing and becoming less religious, but those gains and are not uniform across the country.
Education. It's the only way to deal with this, to educate the future generations. Although in the U.S, you'll also have to educate the teachers...
Nothing new and becoming more of beating a dead horse than news. I don't think the world needs to be secularized and done with religion. I do agree that there should be seperation between religion and public things such as the government, work, etc. I feel religious people just need to be educated about equalities that aren't allowed/frowned upon in their beliefs. But whatever, what do I know. According to some I am a bigot and an idiot, so eh.
Religion is used as a excuse not to think. I actually feel sorry for them in that sense as they will never know the pleasure of free thinking.
No surprise. But I'm glad to see it nonetheless. It'd be nice if religion didn't matter, period, but I think as long as people can understand that their religions shouldn't have any bearing on anyone's dignity or human rights, I'll be happy to let them believe in whatever they want. Tolerate and accept my right to express my gender and love who I want and I'll respect yours to believe in a god.
Religiosity is negatively correlated with educational attainment. Religiosity is negatively correlated with acceptance of LGBTs. Educational attainment is positively correlated with acceptance of LGBTs.
I found on a gay marriage thread on a gun forum how a cross section of the USA sees gay marriage. Those that quoted the bible as where their beliefs came from kept posting that gay marriage redefines marriage in a way that is offensive to them and would post bible quotes that seem to make homosexuality a sin. They see gay marriage as a sign of normalcy should it become the law of the land and if it is normal and gays are born that way than is the bible the word or God or just a recruiting book for Christians written for them to advance an agenda. The fight of gay marriage at this point seems to be the fight for the credibility of the bible in the minds of conservative Christians. In researching ways to address post on the thread I mentioned I found out that there is also progressive Christianity which doesn't put the bible as the word of God throughout and uses logic first to determine what can be used from the bible. I don’t think you can do much with someone who believes Noah’s Ark actually happened. This is similar to dealing with a cult member which lives in a little box.
Wait for them to die. If I understand it correctly, religion is lower among youth in the US as well as in Europe. Its not a massive leap to assume religion is decreasing. But forcing it, for the most part, will only cause resistance. Though a little education wouldn't go amiss.
People will be forced to examine their religious beliefs when their kids are gay. My family has three generations of male gay kids.
Ban Ki-moon: Struggle for LGBT right one of the great, neglected human rights challenges of our time - YouTube EDUCATION is the key, and my so called close friend calls me a communist and extreme for saying there is a need to educate those who disagree with the LGBT community and give them equal rights.
