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From http://www.smh.com.au/national/gay-rift-deepens-for-alp-right-20111201-1o9ad.html
"the Australian Christian Lobby and the Australian Family Association presented a petition of 90,000 signatures to right-wing delegates opposed to same-sex marriage."
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According to http://www.australianmarriageequality.com/wp/2011/12/02/140285-signature-strong-petition-shows-australia-says-i-do-to-marriage-equality/
GetUp and Australian Marriage Equality present a 140,285 signature petition supporting gay marriage. That is another 50% more than the homophobic Christian petition.
Will homophobic Christians allow the majority of citizens to have their way? Probably not. They don't care about democracy and majority public opinion.
This is just another statistic indicating the decline of Christainity in the West. The vast majority of Christians are out of touch with the society in which they live. When Christianity becomes a small minority grouop some time in the future - as will surely happen - will Christians want their basic human rights denied in the same manner that Christians have denied basic human rights for others?
It appears that the church thinks it perfectly moral to marry divorced people in church though Jesus forbad divorce in one gospel. It is also seems perfectly moral for the church to marry a greedy banker who makes a living usury that is forbidden in the bible. (The greedy banker is probably on the church board and never gets criticised for his usury.) It also appears perfectly moral for the church to marry heterosexual couples who have lived together "in sin" for several years. Unfortunately no Christian is advocating slavery today though both Old and New Testraments advocate it. Nor is any Christian lobbying for the right to commit genocide though the book of Joshua advocates it. Christians also opposed the abolition of slavery, equal rights for coloured people and the ordination of women clergy - and used bible verses for their opposition. Christians have a history of denying people their basic human rights. Christians are very selective in which bits of the bible they want to follow. It is dictated by the prejudice they already hold.
According to statistics the majority of Aussies support gay marriage (60%). Homophobic Christians are in the minority (37%). http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8145152/australians-back-gay-marriage-poll . Jesus never spoke about homosexuality so it can't be an important issue. Christian homophobic fear mongering is far in excess to the percentage of time Jesus spent on the matter. The contemporary church appears to be homophobic and to have forgotten how to love their neighbour which includes homosexual couples. Homophobic Christians are trying to deny two homosexual people made in God's image and in love the basic human right to marry. Homophobic Christian rants on the matter use the same type of arguments that racist Christians used against integration and sexist Christians used to deny women the right to be clergy.
Arguments for same-sex marriage include those which are based upon what is regarded as a universal human rights issue, mental and physical health concerns, equality before the law, and the goal of normalizing LGBT relationships.
Homophobic Christians are discriminating against a group of people and denying their basic human rights based soley on homophobic prejudice regarding their sexuality. The statistics in other countries also plainly show that none of theose countries now have people advocating marrying multiple partners, or animals or anything else negative raised by the homophobic chorus of Christians in Australia.
In Atlanta 1964 Martin Luther King spoke about how few of the white churches supported him in the quest for basic human rights for negroes: "Too much of the white church is timid and ineffectual, and some of it is shrill in its defense of bigotry and prejudice. In most communities the spirit of the stus quo is endorsed by the churches." The same could be said about the church and its homophobic stance against same sex marriage.
It should also be noted that homophobia is turning people off church in Australia. I quote from http://www.samesame.com.au/news/local/7592/Homophobia-turns-Aussies-off-church.htm
"New research into Christianity in Australia has revealed that religious intolerance to homosexuality is a key reason why people reject the church.Almost 30% of those surveyed by Christian media group Olive Tree Media say the stance of churches on homosexuality blocked them from engaging with Christianity". Do you Christians want more people in your church? Try getting rid of yopur homophobia.
Homophobic Christians do not have the right to force their minority opinion on the majority of the population. In the future those that have opposed same sex marriage will be looked upon in the same way we now view racists, sexists and slave owners. The only question is when same sex marriage will become law.
