M wrote:
There at least as many good secular reasons to oppose gay marriage as there are religious or traditionally moral ones.
First, the family unit is the basic building block of human society. Virtually all roles are complimentary and everyone naturally plays theirs within the nuclear & extended families in their clan and tribe structures with very little training needed.
Second, this socialization is so obviously strongly instinctive and mutually beneficial that when Native Americans were discovered in they were organized that way, as were the Inuit, the Polynesians and the lost tribes of Africa. These societies although technically deficient and without written law and are economically without waste so they are able to manage property rights, inheritance, domestic and foreign policy, defense, education and social welfare without outside support. For a better understanding brush up on the tragedy of the green.
Third, the economic input required to alter this instinctive societal organization or replace the traditional family is a luxury so expensive, without any hope for financial ROI, that it is economically absurd to society. For a better understanding of this brush up on the paradox of savings.
Fourth, by definition, productive society needs steady positive population growth to survive. The nuclear family is the most efficient, not the only, way to get that growth.
Fifth, it also has the advantage of producing measurably better outcomes in terms of lifetime net economic output the government can then tax and redistribute.
Sixth, society has the obligation, to invest it's scarce resources responsibly and protect the investments that generate the best returns for the benefit of all. There is a general principal of a risk reward ratio when evaluating investments. Investing in the traditional family structure is unique in that it has both the greatest return and least risk of any alternative. Investing otherwise is negligence.
There at least as many good secular reasons to opp... (
show quote)