[coyotefred]

A few observations, based on my own 34 years on this planet and more importantly my experience teaching hundreds of students in college diversity classes, where sexual orientation is often discussed. 1. The first post is right…it isn’t primarily fear driving anti-gay feelings. Most of the time it’s simple blind adherence to religious doctrine. To answer the original post’s question: yes, it is the religious community. I have yet to find ONE student who strongly opposes gay marriage (or homosexuality in general) who has not based that conclusion on their religious beliefs. It is easy to understand why the major Proselytic religions of the world (esp. Christianity and Islam) have most frequently been interpreted as condemning homosexuality: it’s bad for business. The “business” for these Proseltyic religions is to increase membership. One can do this though conversion (“missionary” work) or, more fundamentally, procreation (breeding). Children are quite likely to share the same religion as their parents, and thus encouraging procreation (Gen 1:28: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth…”) increases membership. In this context, it is easy to understand why many religions oppose practices which limit procreation, from homosexuality to contraception to non-procreative sexual contact (oral and anal sex). With more than 237,000 new people added to this planet each day, I think religious believers can move on to portions of their doctrine we humans haven’t followed so effectively (e.g. poverty and wealth).

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Name : coyotefred, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 35, City : sunflower, State : NE, Country : United States, Social class : Lower middle class, 

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