Proposition and Religion Essay

The State and the Church are of two different entities and usually it is the Church which turns out to be more powerful. Whenever controversial issues arise, the Church is always there to give its stand and influence the billions of believers. The Pope is much more powerful than the President of the United States after all. Several moral issues are currently on the hot seat right now. Last February 23, actor Sean Penn won an Oscar for playing a gay politician. The movie Milk earned the respect and recognition of several organizations in the country. In Penn’s speech, he purposely mentioned his advocacy in fighting for gay rights as to having equal rights in the society. Joining him in his fight are the good-looking couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who refuse to get married until every gets the right to do so. A lot of very influential and famous people have already expressed their stand with this very sensitive issue. And slowly, the world is becoming more aware of the change that the world wants. It is the new generation that will definitely be affected with this issue. And with the media’s most influential people calling for support, can the sacred marriage for man and woman be finally twisted? The issue for gay marriage or homosexual marriage became more contentious as the Proposition 8 in California was finally passed in November 4, 2008. The proposition affirms that the matrimony of marriage should only be retained to heterosexuals only. Same-sex marriage should be abolished all over the world—this is a hit to the state Nevada where gay couples are usually married (McCoy 27). In the new section of the bill (7. 5) Article I reads that â€Å"Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California (Cott 218). † This proposition was immediately implemented the day after, Nov. 5. A huge amount of money was raised in each of the opposing and supporting parties. The ones supporting the campaign raised an enormous amount of $39. 9 million while the opposing party took it to another level by surpassing the supporting team by around $4 million (the opposition raised $43. 3 million). This campaign was definitely largest in the history of supporting ballot (Donors 3). The proponents of the ballot emphasized the sacristy of marriage by just giving it to heterosexuals. Religion is a huge factor as their principles are backed up by moral issues and religious beliefs. The proponents also pointed out their worry to the future generation as allowing this would teach the generation that gay marriage is okay—the point that the opponents are actually emphasizing. The opponents believed that marriage is an essential aspect in a human being’s life and that everyone should be given chance to do it—whatever their sexuality is. The proponents of the proposition are mostly Catholic and conservatives. These are the people who believe that we should stick to what we are used to believe—in this case, heterosexuals are only allowed to be married. As mentioned earlier, the Church is very powerful and influential. Such is its power that it can stop a government from sentencing death to a criminal. Aside from that, these religious institutions are exempted from paying taxes. If these religious institutions are very influential and never fail to mix politics with their beliefs, should they be exempted from paying taxes? Religious institutions, such as churches and some schools led by religious leaders, are exempted from taxes. In turn, these institutions get to save a lot of from their spending as their role is to help nourish the society. It was understandable in the beginning and such respect is given to these institutions anyway. However, as time passed by, the role of being the protector and the counselor of the people became out of hand. Aside from their conventional roles in the society, these institutions use their influences on their people with regard to their stand in politics. Some of the religious leaders even run for a seat in the government. The involvement of religious institutions in politics gives them an unfair advantage over those ordinary citizens. The exemption of taxes to these religious institutions gives them more power and medium to access the mass media and influence the not-so-informed people. If they still wish to be exempted from taxes, they should stay away from politics and just continue doing the right thing—which is to spread the Word of God and live it. What they are doing now is they using their â€Å"good† image to convince people to stick with the norms and the conventional while the whole world is ready to embrace the change that it should have done a long time ago. Works Cited Cott, Nancy. Public Vows. Harvard University Press, 2002. â€Å"Donors Pumped $83 Million Into Prop. 8 Race. † cbc5. com. 2 February 2009. 13 March 2009 . McCoy, Candace. Politics and Plea Bargaining: Victim’s Rights in California. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.