Gov. Shutdown?

[sanantone]

Actually, that's missing the issue. Consent isn't the issue. Ultimately, what I deem to be okay (without necessary regard for anyone else) is the issue apart from an absolute standard. Setting up consent is attempting to set up something that is imposed on others without grounds if it isn't an absolute standard.

Reason is, if it isn't absolute, who can truly define which subset it should apply to? To be honest, no one.

It's about the freedom to live your life as you choose. As long as you aren't imposing your will upon someone else or negatively affecting someone else, you should be able to live life as you choose. There are already a lot of gay couples and you still live your life. How will them getting married negatively affect your marriage? This is about respecting people's religious freedoms and freedom to pursue happiness. When someone can't consent, that person is having someone else's will imposed upon them. When people make it so that consenting adults can't do something because of their personal religious beliefs, they are imposing their will upon those people. Consent is not an arbitrary guideline; making laws by the people's religious beliefs (which differ even within religions) is arbitrary. Besides, people's attitudes change with the times. Same-sex marriage has already gained a lot of support in the U.S. It is scientific fact that children do not have fully developed brains, thus, the reasoning skills and intelligence to make good decisions on their own. It is scientific fact that the smartest animals only have the intelligence of a 4 year old human.

Also, explaining how religious/Christian people have done terrible things is no counter argument to religion or Christianity. If it were, then all the terrible things done by non-religious people would be an equally valid argument against an absence of religion.

It's not an argument against religion; it's an argument against how religion somehow makes everything better. It does not. It has often made things worse e.g. religious wars, persecuting scientists who disagree with the church, and witch hunting. Humans are going to be cruel regardless. As a black person, if I had to choose pre-1964 America vs. post-1964 America, post-1964 America would win hands down. It makes me raise an eyebrow when people say that we were kinder to our neighbors when we had God more in our lives and schools when Americans were absolutely brutal to each other. It disturbs me to read how people so easily forget the oppression of minorities and women as if it didn't matter.