“We know where great sex is; we don’t know where great sex isn’t” [Blogathon 3/12]

This post is number three of twelve for the Secular Student Alliance Blogathon.  I’m responding to comments in the “Go Ahead, Tell Me What’s Wrong with Homosexuality” thread all day.  You can read an explanation of the Blogathon and a pitch for donations (even if you’re religious) here.

I’ve done two posts of comments I disagreed with.   Now here’s one from Jerry I quite liked.

To paraphrase (butcher?) a common phrase: we know where great sex is; we don’t know where great sex isn’t. All marriages are imperfect expressions of the ideal marriage. Throughout history, mankind has made varying imperfect attempts at fulfilling this ideal marriage concept in the same way any triangle you draw on a piece of paper is an imperfect attempt at expressing the perfect concept of triagularness. Instead of seeing things as some kind of “violation” of some kind of Catholic view or rule or law, I see the vast number of marriages as people’s honest attempt at striving for a happy union in the best way they know how. No fault or problem with that at all. I just think that the fullness of the truth about marriage is held and taught by the Catholic Church precisely because I believe it is more than just a bunch of celibate men and therefore I try to live mine according to those principles (and try to be ready to explain them when asked!). If someone else wants to go it another way, that’s entirely their choice and I don’t mean to disparage anyone’s honest attempts at reaching the ideal, even if I might personally think some of them are more or less likely to achieve depending on their approaches.

In this case, pitching non-Catholics and non-Christians on celibate gay lives feels a little like pitching Gentiles on keeping kosher.  Or, at least, like the consequence of effecting a conversion, and not the thing you use to pitch people on your metaphysics and theology.  Seems like bad tactics for churches to make opposition to gay marriage the first thing people think of when they they think of Christian marriage.  (Or even just when they hear the word ‘Christian.’)