Theocratic Idiots And Shaking Fists

Franklin Graham is all about telling us what God thinks.

In another provocative comment aimed at Barack Obama, evangelist Franklin Graham on Thursday accused the president of having “shaken his fist” at God by changing his position on same-sex marriage. “It grieves me that our president would now affirm same-sex marriage, though I believe it grieves God even more,” Graham said in a prepared statement.  “This is a sad day for America. May God help us.”

Now what god whispered in Franklin's ear is open to debate. What is pretty clear is that Franklin is a bit confused about the nature of the thing called marriage. There is certainly the issue of what they do in their churches and however offensive I may find their stuff to be, it is their business. What seems to have escaped this paragon is that marriage is a State matter, it is entirely a civil contract with privileges and responsibilities delineated under law. There is no marriage without the State's imprimatur on the matter - no matter where is is conducted, their church or somebody's living room. God's opinion on marriage has been pretty thoroughly debated in theological circles and there certainly seems to still be disagreement. I can't think why I'd care to add to that disagreement. I don't care. What some people call God's Word on something can be valid for them without any of the rest of us being required to pay the least attention to it by the State. I didn't ask any god for permission or for an opinion on getting married and I've been in that heterosexual state of marriage for over twenty years and the State of Oregon has been quite happy with it, along with the Federal Government. All the units of government are quite satisfied that I'm married despite the entire lack of any god in any respect to it. That is what his "shaking his fist at God" is actually about. If Franklin is to have any relevance with that comment then I am not married and I've shaken my fist at God. I suppose I did in the sense that I didn't want anything to do with Franklin's version of a god. I'll happily shake my fist and even my middle finger at his version. I get to, just as he gets to plump for his version - he's just forgotten that and that makes him a theocratic thug flying in the face of this nation's history.