Jason, two doors up in my street there’s a house where, every time the owner goes out, his dog starts barking. It drives several other neighbours nuts, but somehow I’ve learned to ignore it (while feeling terribly sorry for the dog, of course). The neighbour has been told about his dog’s behaviour, but because as soon as he comes home the dog becomes happy and well-behaved again, he simply doesn’t believe it.

I think something similar happens when Leigh’s wife goes to work.

Dear Celivia,

Welcome back, we've missed your posts.
Group hugs all round!

As for what's natural and what isn't?
What's categorically missing is
the humility to understand that our own
self-declared wisdom is often more
limited than we admit, that when we
criticise and lecture those with
different histories and sociologies,
we often expose little more than our own
ignorance. As Waleed Aly tells us in his
book, "People like Us,":

""It is possible, and even desirable, to
speak - and even to argue - across social,
religious, and cultural borders. But it
requires a level of knowledge that a grotesque
proportion of those engaged in the conversation
are either too arrogant or lazy to obtain...
It requires the discovery of what is deeper...
They prefer instead to pontificate from an
impossible distance in furtherance of their
respective causes. They decide what the symbols
and practices of others mean on their behalf
because it boosts their predetermined, and often
prejudiced, narratives...Yet such ignorance
does nothing to dent the confidence of those who
espouse it..."

Foxy,
"They decide what the symbols
and practices of others mean on their behalf
because it boosts their predetermined, and often
prejudiced, narratives...Yet such ignorance
does nothing to dent the confidence of those who
espouse it..."

Sounds like a university feminist going on and on and on about "patriachy"

Odd how it is virtually impossible to find a university academic prepared to say one good word about the male gender, and also say one good word about heterosexual marriage.

So many must be male hating homosexuals who do not believe in life-long commitment.

Dear Severin,
Jesus created sex and it was good.
When I was a young man we knew a raised prick had no brains and no concience and I am sure nothing has changed.

Dear Leigh,
Jesus came to save the lost and he saves ALL "who come to him". No favorites, ALL. It is the Holy Spirits job to convict of sin not ours and I know that he is much more capable. Our job is to love others and to tell them what a wonderful savior we have in Jesus

ALGOREisRICH: <"Gay marriage is a against 'natural law', Gods pattern, social cohesian, moral stability and common sense. It also involves the abuse of children through an un-natural family structure.">

... and if God wanted me to have an operation he'd have given me a zipper.

God's pattern may well be that about 5% (or whatever it is) of the population is attracted to their own sex. We see it throughout history and in other species.

It even makes sense in cave man terms. Imagine a settlement of women and small children - food gathering etc. but limited in their nomadic wanderings by having to herd and carry children and tots. How handy would it have been to still have some males of the species on hand who were not interested in having sex with the women. Still some superior strength to help protect the bunch as well as transport them while the rest of the males were off chasing mammoths or warring or something. I am just saying that if you believe that all humanity is driven to reproduce the species, there are still ways that all humans help the group as whole to reproduce (including grandparents and people who choose not to have kiddies). There are more ways to contribute to a species reproducing itself than just making babies.

The vast majority of child abuse is perpetrated by heterosexual men living in nuclear family configurations. If you cared about child abuse, you would be questioning all types of living arrangements including that of the nuclear family to discover how we can work out which people are abusive and which are not. In any case, social history tells us that many types of families have existed throughout time.

I also agree with what Richie 10 is saying. I am sure that we were not given jurisdiction over any one but ourselves.