Sunday, April 3, 2011

Britain's Government Dictating Beliefs

I just read about a situation in Britain. Short summary, a foster-parent couple was trying to adopt a child, and it was blocked because they hold anti-gay views, and said that they would teach them to any child they raised. [Source] Google News it for confirmation, this was one of the more neutral articles I could find.

It's a pretty gray area, there are good arguments on both sides. We are violating the parent's right to teach their children, and there has to be a good reason. Would you want the Grand Dragon of the KKK teaching a foster child? I'd hope you say no. Would you want one of Hitler's top echelon as a foster parent? No. The question really is, where do we draw the line? Does their belief that homosexuality is wrong constitute enough of a danger that we have to intervene? That is what's important in this case. The court obviously thinks so.

When I read about it, my first reaction was, damn right. I'm a strong proponent of equal rights, and so teaching that homosexuality is wrong is something I disagree with. However, after a moment of actually thinking about it, I realized how wrong that reaction was. It's NOT wrong because it's anti-Christian. It's wrong because it's anti-anything. This opens the door to government dictating what beliefs and opinions are correct .. thought control, basically. That is a VERY dangerous thing.

Also,I have to wonder why Christian groups (which have been the loudest ones protesting) are crying foul. I can understand civil libertarians protesting this. But NOM is right now protesting Virginia's new foster care law, which states that parents can't be chosen based on sexual orientation, because it'll make it easier for gay couples to adopt. We can't have it both ways, allowed to say that people can't be parents because they are gay, but can be if they are anti-gay.

Though I disagree with this couple's beliefs, letting the State decide what opinions and beliefs people are allowed to have is much more dangerous than the indoctrination of one child, and so this ruling is wrong.
 

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