They will now object to me praying at the President's Inaugural
August 19, 2013
A friend sent me this link to an article on a 'polyamorous' relationship between four people. It raises a host of interesting question.
First is the obvious one: how far has society moved that this sort of relationship can be presented in the mainstream media as perhaps a little odd and risque but not downright weird? Yes, such things have always existed, I guess, but so have foot fetishists and string collectors. Something is afoot when one moves it from the 'weird' to the 'Bohemian'.
Second, behold the legal chaos to come. Now that gender is an attitude of mind -- the individual's mind, that is, not the imperialist mind of any external theological, political or even genetic authority -- and marriage, whatever else it is, is not a lifelong commitment of one man to one woman, whither go the law codes? Popular taste holds things in check for a while but is profoundly shaped by the instruments of popular culture -- like the BBC, for example. On what solid basis, given current legal precedents, do two guys and two gals in a multi-tasking sexual relationship not have the right to be a family and to claim all the legal privileges and protections thereof? And what happens if Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich decide that they are a family and want to adopt a baby? Or five guys named Moe all apply to marry each other in a union one can only describe as pentagamous (if the word does not yet exist, trust me -- it soon will; and remember, you heard it here first - I want my moment of glory in the Oxford English Dictionary)?
Third, and personally most distressing of all, I have a horrible feeling that, when I am invited to
do the prayer at the Presidential inaugural in 2025, somebody will dig up this post and have me disqualified as a hate-filled bigot whose very presence will contaminate the proceedings. Oh dear.
First is the obvious one: how far has society moved that this sort of relationship can be presented in the mainstream media as perhaps a little odd and risque but not downright weird? Yes, such things have always existed, I guess, but so have foot fetishists and string collectors. Something is afoot when one moves it from the 'weird' to the 'Bohemian'.
Second, behold the legal chaos to come. Now that gender is an attitude of mind -- the individual's mind, that is, not the imperialist mind of any external theological, political or even genetic authority -- and marriage, whatever else it is, is not a lifelong commitment of one man to one woman, whither go the law codes? Popular taste holds things in check for a while but is profoundly shaped by the instruments of popular culture -- like the BBC, for example. On what solid basis, given current legal precedents, do two guys and two gals in a multi-tasking sexual relationship not have the right to be a family and to claim all the legal privileges and protections thereof? And what happens if Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich decide that they are a family and want to adopt a baby? Or five guys named Moe all apply to marry each other in a union one can only describe as pentagamous (if the word does not yet exist, trust me -- it soon will; and remember, you heard it here first - I want my moment of glory in the Oxford English Dictionary)?
Third, and personally most distressing of all, I have a horrible feeling that, when I am invited to
do the prayer at the Presidential inaugural in 2025, somebody will dig up this post and have me disqualified as a hate-filled bigot whose very presence will contaminate the proceedings. Oh dear. 
