Conservatism, Atheism, and Gay Marriage
John Pike writes:
The AnalPhilosopher posts today (again) that "no conservative can support gay marriage", arguing that this is an "absolute". ... To which I assert the following, and I imagine that a great majority of Conservatives would agree: No Conservative can support Atheism.
Keith Burgess-Jackson (The Anal Philosopher) is an atheist and a philosopher who has a history of defending ignorance and tradition. I think that Pike is arguing that atheism is as incompatible with conservatism as is gay marriage; therefore, if it is "wacky" to try to combine gay marriage and political conservatism, Burgess-Jackson is "wacky" for being an atheist conservative.
There are far too many atheist conservatives to dispute the fact that an atheist can be a conservative, but I'd like to attempt a different critique of Keith Burgess-Jackson's claims. He is saying that conservatives cannot disagree about the "nature of marriage" and all conservatives must accept what is currently regarded as the legal definition of marriage: between one man and one woman.
But what about one hundred years ago? One could have argued then that "no conservative can support equal rights for women in marriage." More generally, one could have argued that "no conservative can support the right of women to vote." The logic would have been the same then as in Burgess-Jackson's ideas. Conservatives oppose social changes like this — that's what makes conservatism so conservative. I'll be that Burgess-Jackson doesn't oppose women's right to vote, though. Why? Because conservatism also has to change and evolve.
Some conservatives are ahead of the curve. Some conservatives today support gay marriage, just like some conservatives are atheists. Keith Burgess-Jackson may not be among the former, but he has no more right to deny the validity of such a position than does John Pike to deny the validity of the latter. Conservatism is a general trend or attitude, not a detailed prescription for particular policy positions.
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Comments
Um… I’m a lifelong conservative, and I wholeheartedly support gay marriage and I’m an atheist. I don’t see the contradiction in any of that. Conservatism is a broad spectrum.
I am also a Conservative atheist who supports gay marriage. I think this is best left to the states though, whenever judges step in fudnies get active and pass amendments like the ones passed in many states after a court stepped in in Massachussetts. Give the people a chance to approve it themselves and it will spread.