(no subject)

My mother was in town last week, and we have opposing views on a lot of political issues. This leads to arguments every time a controversial topic came up. The big one this past week was homosexuality. Now, I firmly believe in the policy "To each his own." I think that everyone should have equal rights, no matter who they love. And I really don't think its my business what people do with their love life. My mother is very much opposed to anything having to do with gays or their lifestyle. After an hour of arguing and much yelling and flaring tempers, I decided to just tell her that I didn't feel like arguing anymore. I've been thinking about that conversation a lot over the weekend, and I've come a few conclusions. Now, my conclusions may seem obvious to many people, but they hadn't really sunk in. I can be a little slow sometimes.

The problem with issues like homosexuality, abortion, evolution, and the like, is that they are not completely fact based issues. There is a religious component to them, whether we like to admit it or not. If an issue has religion tied up in it, many people can't be rational about it. That's not to say its a bad thing. The entire point of religion is to have faith. Faith doesn't take into account facts, or theories, or anything really, except the complete belief in whatever it is you adhere to. You can't force people into accepting something that goes against everything they believe in and hold close to their hearts. All it will do is make them angry. You also can't force faith on people that don't have any. Some people don't have the capacity for faith, some just choose not to have any, that's just a part of life.