Almost 5,00,000 persons voted NO, so they need their rights to their opinion protected from a totalitarian law, that denies freedom of expression of ideas. At the moment that right has been put on hold in any discussion, so there are currently no legal protections in place if SSM is legalised before Christmas.

I still believe all social contracts [marriage, pre-nuptial agreements etc.] should be done before a Chamber Magistrate with witnesses. That means any celebrations, Pub, Club, Resort, Church, Temple, Mosque formalities etc. are separate from State registrations.

Yes, ALTRAV, I did read you whole response, it was rather disjointed and some of your sentence structure made for an amusing read with its ambiguity (as my last response highlighted).

Sorry, but I don't really understand what your point was. Apparently I don't accept something, and the fact that I don't accept it doesn't mean that you're wrong. Well, that's obvious, although it is still a mystery as to what it is that I don't accepted (other than, perhaps, your fixation on anal sex).

You then say that you cannot justify equality for gay people on any level, but then cite a bizarre reason for this regarding their conduct and how it is apparently not equal to society:

"... when they conduct themselves in a manner not equal to society". (http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=8026#248327)

How does something become equal to society, and how do you gauge this?

<<We treat them the same as any other person in many things, but because there is that difference, we must acknowledge the difference and deal with it accordingly.>>

What difference? Anal intercourse? What about lesbians and heterosexual couples who engage in anal intercourse? And how do you think we need to deal with that? How do you determine what constitutes "accordingly"?

With no lead-in whatsoever, you then start talking about religious freedom, the results of the survey, and your right to speak your mind. There is no indication of how any of this relates to what you started talking about in the first half of your post.

But if you don't want to explain what that jumbled set of thoughts was supposed to be communicating, then I'm fine with that.

AJ thank you. Your welcome.

Dear Josephus,

The Coalition backbencher James Patterson along
with Conservative colleagues will be looking at
amending the Smith Bill over the very concerns
that you've expressed - that the Bill does not
go far enough to protect religious freedoms.

"I will now work constructively with my Parliamentary
colleagues over the coming weeks on amendments to
ensure that the strongest possible protections for the
freedoms of ALL Australians are enshrined in the
federal legislation", he said.

Not only than, the Government's leader in the Senate,
Attorney-General George Brandis, said he wanted to see
further protections for people who did not want to be
involved in same-sex marriages.

Brandis flagged plans to amend the Bill when it goes to
Committee to extend the right of conscientious objection
to ministers of religion to include civil marriage
celebrants and "to put the matter beyond doubt".

Brandis also wants to add an amendment "that nothing in the
Bill makes it unlawful for people to hold and to express
the views of their own religion on the subject of marriage."

Surely this should appease your concerns.

Josephus you really are a lost sole who knows so little about anything...

You like to think you know but you don't...

Even if the snake is a symbol it is a dense story that is absolute rubbish...

I could dissect it for you BUT I doubt you have the capacity to understand...

I wasn't at the flood, were you? Were you around when Jesus supposedly walked the Earth? Were you there for the passover? The "were you" there argument is irrelevant and applies equally to you so add that to your list of failings...lmao

Really every culture has the Noah's flood story where the world was covered by sea and a man in a boat saved all the animals 2 x 2 or 7 x 2 depending on which verse you read?

Remember Noah's flood (lol) covered everything on Earth... and according to the Bible only 6000 odd years ago.

Yes, children die in floods BUT not every innocent child, innocent baby, and innocent babe still in the womb on the Earth like the Noah story says... Are you for real? lmao WAKE UP! EVERY CHILD DIED - only 8 people survived!

Do you really believe GOD would kill all these innocent people? Poor you if you do!

You live in the 21st century... you are allowed to think like you do! Have you thought of herding camels in the middle east as a profession? lmao

In the Bible, because you don't know, a Eunuch, was often a homosexual man... You didn't know that?

Furthermore... Who said anything about David and the Eunuch having sex? Try to keep your mind out of the gutter please!

The verse says...

Daniel 1:9 Now GOD had brought Daniel into favor and TENDER LOVE with the prince of the eunuchs.

Maybe they just kissed an cuddled...

See your problem is that you believe fairy stories and you can't understand that what people do in their bedrooms isn't necessarily what you think.

... Cont

...Cont

Poor Josephus,

Can you/anyone answer the question I posed on a later post...

Did GOD order Moses to cut the heads off the vanquished and put them in poles in the baking sun to turn God's anger away from the Israelites?

Numbers 25:4 And the LORD said unto Moses, TAKE ALL THE HEADS OF THE PEOPLE, and hang them up before the LORD in the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.

Did your God...tell Moses do this to test a woman's fidelity? What is the test for a man's fidelity?...lol

Numbers 5:16-22 (NIV) “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord."

Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water.

After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse.

Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you.

But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”—

here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell.

May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”

“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”

How many innocent babies and women died through this process?

The reason that this is "on topic" is because religious people are using crazy, evil Moses' teachings to justify their ridiculous position against gay people..

Keep smiling!