What do Rand Paul and Pope Francis have in common?
Rand Paul & Pope Francis
by Guest Columnist Sarah Rosier
“I’m not going to change who I am or what I believe in. I am an old-fashioned traditionalist. I believe in the historical definition of marriage. That being said, I think contracts between adults—I’m not for limiting contracts between adults. In fact, if there are ways to make the tax code more neutral where it doesn’t mention the word marriage, then we don’t have to redefine what marriage is. We just don’t have marriage in the tax code. …Then you don’t have to redefine, and have people like myself, and people who live in the southeastern part of the country, we don’t have to change our definition of what we think marriage is, but we allow contracts to occur so there is more ability to [make] the law neutral.”
“We believe that we must propose more comprehensive civil union rights than currently exist, but no gay marriage.”
Sound similar? The first quote was from a press conference in which Rand Paul was describing how to take the libertarian message to the broader public. The latter was a quote to the Argentine press from a spokesman for Pope Francis when he was, at that time Cardinal Bergoglio, battling the country’s push to redefine marriage.
I have heard many libertarians malign the Catholic Church for it’s patriarchal structure, hard-line morality, and inability to “catch-up” to the latest societal changes. How does it follow, then, that one of the libertarian right’s current heroes sounds very similar to el Papa?
They just want you to stay off their religious turf, bro.
Both Pope Francis and Rand Paul are viewing their religion as something voluntary. From the above quotes, it’s clear that they are not arguing that any religion be forced upon anyone– contract away, fellow man!– however, it’s also clear that they do not want to see government start creeping in on their ability to control the expectations the church puts on its voluntary membership. Basically, if marriage is to be legally defined as a “right,” what is stopping the government from forcing a religious body to marry a couple?
Allow anyone the right to contract, but also allow churches to decide on the definition of marriage in their denomination. This can be achieved only, as Paul says, by taking marriage out of the tax code. Give people equal opportunity under the law. The government does not, and should not, have the right to force any religion to perform a sacrament.
The parallel between comments on gay marriage and the HHS mandate is evident. Forcing a private organization, such as the Catholic Church, to provide a service (birth control, a marriage ceremony, whatever) against their will is wrong in any circumstance. What I bet Paul and Pope Francis can agree on is that, such as in every other case, the government being involved in any institution will eventually cause freedom of religion to ever-shrink. Forcing religion to comply to government-defined equality rights is absurd. How about this: If you don’t like the Church’s views, don’t transubstantiate.
Plus, the current legal definition of marriage is already so deeply embedded in the current tax code that redefining marriage will only take us further down the road of allowing the government to tax us differently depending on what is happening in our bedrooms.
I can’t say for certain that Pope Francis would go so far as to take the government out of marriage completely as it seems Senator Paul is advocating for, but maybe, just maybe, that would be the best thing for churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike.
Get your man-made law out of my marriage and I will get my Bible off of your contracts. And, hey, we can all agree on a simpler tax code, right?
Sources:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/03/pope-francis-supported-civil-unions-as-cardinal/
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