Corvino’s Thoughts about Gay Marriage

I think Corvino made some very interesting points in his videos. I specifically found his video about gay marriage being a threat to religious freedom very interesting. One thing he explained was the difference between civil marriage and religious marriage. While I understood what this meant, I never previously looked at the issue in this sense. Because of media coverage, I always just heard individuals bickering about it being wrong or right and individuals citing sacred texts such as the Bible to understand the definition of marriage. Another point he made was that he understands why people don’t want to recognize legal marriage for relationships they disapprove of. This made me think of the scenario in which a father doesn’t approve of the man his daughter may be seeing. In most cases the girl is going to continue to see the man she likes regardless of whether her father disapproves. The same goes for gay marriage, even if gay marriage is never fully legalized by the federal government, individuals will still find a way to be together. Corvino also specifically talked about what freedom of religion meant. And one point he made was that by being tolerant of all religions we need to be tolerant of what that religion believes in and approves of such as same-sex unions. We can’t pick and choose what we think is right or wrong. Of course if a religion says it is okay to physically harm someone, it is okay if outside forces intervene, but things like marriage I think fall into a different category and if freedom of religion is truly valued, people need to learn what it means to also be tolerant of the practices that take place in other religions.