Cultural Liberalism and Voluntary Religious Associations
I am a socialist, not a social liberal, but I have been a cultural liberal for as long as I can remember. Since my diagnosis as an Autistic and after, subsequently, achieving a degree of conscientization concerning my autobiographical status in the matrix of social domination, my commitment to cultural liberalism has been even more pronounced than before. That is to say, becoming aware of my own contexts of oppression has increased my sensitivity to the human rights struggles of other oppressed populations, particularly women, racial and ethnic minorities, and the LGBT community.
In terms of the latter, my dilemma, at one time, had been focused upon a reconciliation of the official positions of my religious community, which disallows Gay marriage, with my personal beliefs in support of it. Indeed, I would like to see marriage taken out of the hands of governments altogether.
In place of marriage, I would propose that any adults, of whatever number or gender, could receive a civil union license. It would then be left to those persons, or to the determinations of their religious organizations, as to whether to designate those unions as marriages (ceremonially or otherwise). Thus, marriage leaves the public sphere and becomes a private matter.
I have digressed a bit. As I said, my concern centered around being culturally liberal on sexual orientation when my religion was not. I resolved it, as a nominalist, by refusing to conflate my religion, as a voluntary association, with the secular arena to which sexual preference belongs.
In other words, I am able to acknowledge the requirements of my religion as covenantal obligations, binding only on believers, while simultaneously affiming my personal views, in support of Gay rights, as a private individual. Similarly, although I would like to see the elimination of gender categories, I accept them in within the framework of my voluntary religious association.
That’s pretty much how I feel about it, too.
amazing stuff thanx