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For some reason that defies my understanding, The Salt Lake Tribune decided to publish a column by Cal Thomas on Aug. 10. In this column, Thomas lashes out at “openly gay” Judge Vaughn Walker for what Thomas calls his vigilante attack on justice in striking down California’s Proposition 8. Thomas, in typical hate-monger fashion, labels the decision as another step in the downward spiral toward the destruction of American society.
What I don’t understand is how bigots like Thomas (and a good chunk of Utah’s population) can espouse their faith in Christianity while simultaneously spouting such ridiculous hatred. The Christian Bible (if you believe in that sort of thing) teaches that people should forgive and not judge. Sin and vengeance are for God to decide, not man. Yet not a single day goes by without some alleged “Christian” wanting to spout a message of hate in God’s name.
And that’s OK. Idiots have the same right to free speech as the rest of us. What they don’t have, however, is the right to enforce their bigotry through law. The Constitution of the United States explicitly prohibits the “establishment of religion” from a legal perspective. It grants to each of us the right to choose to live our lives as we see fit, to make our own moral and ethical judgments. It also establishes that there are certain rights that are not subject to the whim of the electorate.
I find it interesting that Thomas would reference the fact that seven million Californians (52.24 percent of voters) voted in favor of Proposition 8, and then say that vote thereby creates validity for the suppression of human rights.
“The decision by a single, openly gay federal judge to strike down the will of seven million Californians, tradition dating back millennia (not to mention biblical commands, which the judge decided, in his capacity as a false god, to also invalidate) is judicial vigilantism equal to Roe v. Wade.”
Keeping that in mind, read this excerpt from a Cal Thomas column dated October 16, 2009:
“We will get more of what we tolerate. Sexual behavior is an important cultural and moral issue. Mr. Obama won the election with just 52 percent of the popular vote and a margin of 7 percent over Sen. John McCain. This should not be seen as a mandate for him and his administration to make over America in a secular and liberal image. Neither should it be seen as an invitation to give blanket approval to homosexuality, considered by some to be against the best interests of the people who practice it as well as the nations that accept it.”
For some reason, apparently, a 52 percent vote is enough to justify denying equal rights to gays and lesbians, but it’s not enough of a gap to legitimize the elected President of the United States. Am I the only one that sees the obvious hypocrisy here?
Thomas Jefferson warned us all of the dangers of democracy. The Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution in order to prevent a small majority from taking away the rights of the minority. Jefferson called it the “Tyranny of the Majority,” and it’s exactly what happened in California in November 2008. Judge Vaughn Walker ruled, appropriately, that the voters of California do not have the legal right to deny other citizens their rights under law. This is not judicial activism, nor is it judicial vigilantism. It was a judge doing his job, interpreting the law and protecting the rights of all citizens.
