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Something happened on Friday that made my day. It was walking past a television in the Arts & Journalism building and seeing Christian Evangelical Pastor Ted Haggard’s face on CNN with the words “Accused of Having Sex with Gay Prostitute,” at the bottom of the screen.
Most people wouldn’t have recognized the man, but I did because over the summer I was able to see Richard Dawkin’s short BBC series called The Root of All Evil which hypothesized that religious evangelism was the source of most, if not all, the evil in the world. This man, Ted Haggard, had a debate with Dawkins at his home parrish in Colorado Springs. The debate centered around whether or not evolution was well enough supported by science to be sure that it was happening or had happened. Dawkins represented the science side of the debate while Haggard represented the Christian Evangelical point of view. It culminated in Ted Haggard screaming at Richard Dawkins and angrily forcing him off his property.
This is why I was happy to see the news on CNN on Friday. It’s not that I like to see people in pain, or be brought down. It’s that it felt like a substantial blow to a very vocal, and very unreasonable, minority that want to force their will on the majority.
Haggard has spoken openly, and at length, on many occasions about his beliefs that evolution is false and that to be gay is to be an evil sinner. Suffice to say, he’s anti-gay marriage, and I feel that this is an unreasonable stance.
Let’s do some math. I assure you it will be simple. There exist two variables; A and B. A is equal to B in every way. So then if you were to perform any mathematical operation on them the result would be equal every time between them because they are equal. A + B is equal to B + B is equal to A + A is equal to B + A. This makes perfect sense.
In this country, men and women are supposed to be equal. What is available for one, at the public level, must be made available to the other. Isn’t it sexism then to require for a marriage license that people in a pair not be the same sex as each other? Men and women are supposed to be treated equally. To say that gay people cannot marry is to say that one or both members of the pair deserve to be treated differently at a public level, and not equally. This is unacceptable and unreasonable.
Christian Evangelical Ted Haggard represented 30 million such people, and stopped representing them when they, and the world, found out he was a fraud. I feel the proof is in his reaction. People like Haggard love to argue about their beliefs. They don’t hold back their very unreasonable and unpopular opinions. So the fact that he has nothing to say and has no defense for this new information is an admission of guilt, because it is so much against-type for his character. He has an answer for every question about evolution. Yet, he vacates his pulpit the very second his true nature his brought to light.
I sleep better knowing that the people know the truth about Ted Haggard, and that a figurehead for the unreasonable has been brought down. I sleep better knowing that the world is finally waking up to the idea that there’s a good reason these people speak far too loudly about issues that shouldn’t be any big deal.
Gay marriage shouldn’t be a big deal. Men and women are supposed to be treated equally, and not allowing people of the same gender to marry is a violation of this. End of story.
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