A religious military?

I was born and raised Christian. I have no problems with admitting that. I go to church every Sunday and have no problems with that as well. However, I'm also very familiar with other major religions in the world, having read various texts from some of them, taken classes in other religions at university and making friends with people of various religions. I'm proud to admit that I know people of Jewish, Hindu and Muslim backgrounds, and yes, they are all nice, wonderful people. Even after my studying, I have come to incorporate some beliefs from other religions into my own. (What these are and how they all fit together is another story for another blog entry.) Whether or not this still makes me Christian, I don't know.

With that said, hearing something like this makes me facepalm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PAJNntoRgA&feature=youtu.be

His exact words are "there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military..."

Wait, what?!

Can someone please explain to me what's wrong with open gays in the military? If someone wanted to serve their country in this way (I wouldn't be able to do it), why can't they? If someone can physically and mentally handle the pressure that this job requires, why does it matter who they're sharing their bed with?

This same goes for marriage. I've heard people say that if you say you can marry whoever you want, then you're allowing for people to marry animals, things, even adults to children. No. That's not what it is. I see no reason for marriage to be defined as a binding between TWO CONSENSUAL ADULTS. Simple as that. You can't work around that and have a man marry a tree or a woman marry a cow. The tree and cow, while they may be adults in their species, can not consent to it.

In his ad, Rick Perry states that children can't celebrate Christmas in the classroom. I, personally, haven't seen this, but I haven't been in an American classroom. As an educator, I have to (or I will once someone hires me) guide my students to succeed in the world. That includes being socially intelligent and knowing how to interact with people. For many people in the world (not so much over on this continent, but definitely in others), their religion is a huge part of who they are. Even knowing what kind of dietary restrictions people have is a help! If they're having a dinner party and inviting a Hindu and a Jew, beef and pork dishes probably aren't going to work! You might also want to make sure that your dinner party doesn't fall on a day like Rosh Hashanah or Diwali or that it starts after sunset if it's Ramadan if you're inviting a Muslim.

So, in a classroom, by all means talk about Christmas. It's part of the culture and, most likely, at least in Newfoundland, the dominant religion of the students. But talk about the other religions as well. Students will learn much more if you actually teach something rather than nothing.

I think Homer Simpson (yes, Homer Simpson) said it best:

"Because in the end, aren't all religions the same? They tell us what to eat, when to pray, that this lump of clay called Man can somehow shape himself to resemble the divine. But we can never attain that perfect grace if we have hatred in our hearts. So let us celebrate our commonalities. Some of us don't eat pork. Some of us don't eat shellfish. But we all eat chicken."

I think that last part says so much more than just what we eat.

And for once, my blog entry has come around more-or-less full circle.