Paul Nathanson a Canadian religious scholar who just happens to be gay (duh!) was also trotted out in Varnum v. Brien which ultimately led to the Iowa Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage. In the document Defending Faith, Family and Freedom by the Family Research Council Nathanson is quoted as saying that cultures can only survive and thrive via opposite-sex marriage.

“Because heterosexuality is directly related to both reproduction and survival … every human society has had to promote it actively … Heterosexuality is always fostered by a cultural norm” that limits marriage to unions of men and women. He adds that people “are wrong in assuming that any society can do without it.”

Not surprisingly marriage scholar Maggie Gallagher also surfaces in said document.

Nathanson and Young also co-authored  Marriage à la mode: Answering the Advocates of Gay Marriage in 2003 which attempts to dissect and tear down many marriage equality positions. Some of their arguments below.

Argument 7: Children would be no worse off with happily married gay parents than they are with unhappily married straight ones: This comparison is false, because it involves the best of one scenario with the worst of another. A legitimate comparison would compare either the best of both or the worst of both. Once again, we suggest that the best of marriage (providing at least one parent or other adult of each sex) is better than the best of gay marriage (which provides two parents of the same sex and none of the other one).

Argument 15: Anyone who opposes same-sex marriage is homophobic: This argument amounts to verbal terrorism. By “homophobic” is meant prejudice and hostility, although this word actually connotes the neuroticism of a phobia. The implication is that only evil or sick people can possibly disagree with any claim made by gay people. So much for the possibility of rational debate. (Never mind that not even all gay people are in favor of gay marriage.)

Moreover, this is an ad hominem argument. It is easy to trivialize arguments by attacking the personal integrity of those who make them. That way, you need not deal with the argument itself.

It’s a lengthy document but a good source for “verbal terrorists” such as myself in developing counter arguments.

“The woman at my polling place asked me do I believe in equality for gay and lesbian people. I was pretty surprised to be asked a question like that. It made no sense to me. Finally I asked her: what do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?”

Watch the entire clip below…

Find out more at MormonProposition.com.

H/T to Pam’s House Blend.

Thanks to an intrepid sleuther at Crooks & Liars for discovering the linkage.

Monique Stevens, who is a lesbian, said she and her partner were attending the 11 a.m. service at New Olivet Baptist Church because they wanted to meet the Rev. Kenneth Whalum Jr., who they intended to support in the Oct. 15 mayoral election.

An hour into service, Whalum told the congregation to bow to the ground and blow kisses to God, Stephens said, but she and her partner, who are agnostic, did not move.

She said Whalum and church members began calling them “devil worshippers” and “gay,” among other derogatory names. Security guards surrounded and pushed them out of the sanctuary. Stephens said her glasses were broken and both she and her partner of three years have bruises and scratches from the altercation. No arrests were made, police said.

Whalum, however, said the women were “being disruptive, boisterous and speaking loud. They had to have some kind of agenda to come in church like that.”

More from the Memphis Flyer:

When Stevens placed her arm around her partner, the women claim a security guard asked the two to leave the church, claiming he’d already called the police. They allege that a group of young men pushed them out of the church while others taunted them with calls of “bitch” and “devil worshipper.”

According to Rod 2.0, Pastor Whalum, who stood idly by as the event transpired, was a vocal opponent to proposed anti-discrimination ordinance back in July.

“It’s first,” she said to calls of “hallelujah” at a rally outside the zoo. “If we can’t come to the foundation of faith in this community, those other answers will never come. We need to first of all recognize the fact that God needs to be honored in this city.”

Falling, who has founded several Christian nonprofit groups and is a former city councilor, also said the next mayor needs to appoint people to boards, authorities and commissions who will “honor God.”

“We will also look for people who want to characterize the origins of both man and animals in a way that honors Judeo-Christian science that proves God as the creator,” she said.

When asked whether she meant that she would recruit Christians to serve the city, Falling said she was talking about “people committed to their churches.” When asked whether she meant Christian churches, she said, “churches, yes.”

I suspect folks who attend synagogues or mosques are simply out of luck.

From Falling’s blog:

What are we doing today to recognize the Creator and call upon Him to intervene in our city struggles? How are we to pursue the Creator’s plans for us – plans to prosper us and not to harm us? Unless God’ s people come together in this city to under gird our leaders and our city in prayer – we will continue to decline as a community.

More in the video below:

You can find out more about Anna Falling or leave her a comment on her blog.

“For the gay and lesbian community in this country, I think it’s clear that they feel victimized in fairly powerful ways and they’re often hurt by not just certain teachings of the Catholic Church, but the Christian faith generally. And as a Christian, I’m constantly wrestling with my faith and my solicitude and regard and concern for gays and lesbians.”

For many Catholics and people of faith there is no “wrestling” or struggle. No inner turmoil. Gays are either to repent and abstain from their “lifestyle” or burn for all eternity.

Sure, many will accuse Obama of being two-faced, or criticize him for playing to both sides of the issue. But hopefully some will appreciate his honesty about the struggle. I suspect we would be a lot farther along in the gay civil rights movement if more individuals, more people of faith, also carried that struggle in their heart.

Atheists need to have more babies! And now!

Oh… maybe it’s this century…