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A shidduch – Rick marrying Rick is indeed acceptable but not in the way they use it!

By Melanie Nathan, July 05, 2015.

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) was the keynote speaker at the 2nd Annual National Organization for Marriage (NOM) gala in Washington, DC. – not an unusual venue for a candidate like Rick Santorum, grasping at a slither of an opportunity, in a tired courtship ripe for eulogy. Indeed this is a marriage that can no longer work.

Rick Santorum is running for President on a ticket of nothing except usurping one religion into a diverse civil society.  NOM just lost the battle of the century, when marriage equality was delivered by SCOTUS in the Obergefell case to all 50 of the United States.  Rick Warren’s mega-church tries to keep the pot-o-gold a-flowing through the same old scape-goating, cloaked in religious dogma, dangling the promise of delivering voters to a gasping presidential candidate.

Here we find a struggling attempt at synergy between NOM, and its participation in the shidduch* between Rick and Rick. This marriage is one that is as flawed, as the very rhetoric used in the attempted coup by these fringe Christians, failing to make America their Christian Nation.

The longtime discredited NOM is gasping its last breath, and candidate Rick Santorum has one losing issue he is so desperately trying to resuscitate,  and even with the pimping of Rick Warren, all will be to no avail.

Both the religious right and the obliging candidate are stuck in the mud of the bygone Falwell Reagan era, thinking that these anti-gay courtships will deliver anything more than a dribble of votes. They are wrong – times have changed.

And so Rick Santorum graced his speech with a laughable garbled senseless quote from Rick Warren, a mega pastor steeped in controversy and doubt, and created this Facebook post and adjoining campaign meme:

Both Ricks are here to deliver what is in effect a eulogy to this type of political ploy. Unlike the Reagan Falwell political play of the 80’s, the marriage of the two Ricks and its facilitation by NOM,  does not stand a chance with this and future generations.

Candidates like Santorum can sign NOM pledges from here to the moon and back and tickle the hairy backs of every Rick Warren under the sun, and still nothing will derogate from the fact that mainstream America has evolved and many mainstream religions are joining the evolution, with recent votes to embrace marriage equality.

Yes Rick and Rick would have the right to marry now in any American State – however what they do not have the right to do is to dominate our civil equality through their religious dogma, that of one group, whether a majority or a minority in belief.  The Rick and Rick marital branding of religion and attempted coup will not gain an inch in this era. Perhaps they should just settle for marriage as it now is, and find new agendas.

We are not bound for a Christian coup, as we realize that freedom of religion is not owned by ‘Christianity,’ least of all a Rick and Rick’s branding of it. It belongs to all religious faiths, and all belief and thought. Yet Santorum thinks that Christianity (and his form of it) is the only religion and belief that gets to weigh in on civil rights of this country.

While no religion has the right to impose itself on civil rights and its constitutional call for equality for all Americans, the ultimate arrogance is Rick Santorum’s assumption that his religion and his brand of Christianity has the final say on what is acceptable in American society. With this in mind here is Santorum’s whole NOM Gala speech as it appears on his campaign website –

“Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) was the keynote speaker at the 2nd Annual National Organization for Marriage gala in Washington, DC.

Senator Santorum outlined his response to the recent Supreme Court ruling redefining the institution of marriage and what his Administration will do to strengthen the traditional American family, which will include:

• The Court got it wrong and we must fight: The Court has a track-record of being wrong, and this case is no different. Just as Roe v. Wade launched decades of legal battles, so has this decision. The battle is not over.

• Fight to reclaim marriage as an institution: We must fight to rebuild marriage so that each year in America more children know the love of their married mom and dad. This is a struggle that begins in our own homes, our own families, our own communities, our own faith communities: to make our families an outward and visible sign that love is real, it is possible, and a child’s heart can rely on their parents’ marriage. This is about lifting up hope, about keeping the faith, and about making the idea of marriage a real possibility, part of the American dream, and not surrendering it. The family is too important to our society and our economy to give up on.

• Fight to protect religious freedom: We are in the middle of a powerful effort by the Left to pivot from redefining marriage to redefining Christianity–and other traditional faiths–as the moral, cultural, and legal equivalent of racism. We cannot just stand by and let that happen. We cannot afford to nominate a candidate who says “let’s move on,” or “let’s talk about something else,” or worse denies the reality we see all along by saying there is no clash between the liberty of believers and the Left’s vision of what redefining marriage means for religion.

• Fight to protect freedom of conscience: Rev. Rick Warren said ‘our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.’ Justice Kennedy’s decision has perpetuated these two ugly lies and people of faith will now be classified under the ugliest of terms. This cannot stand.

• Steps a Santorum Administration will take: As a candidate, Senator Santorum was proud to sign and fully support the National Organization for Marriage’s presidential pledge. On day one the Santorum Administration will issue an Executive Order to implement elements of the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) to ensure no agency of the federal government will interfere with the religious liberty rights of faith-based organizations who oppose same-sex marriage. In the first 100 days, President Santorum work to pass FADA to protect the 501(c)3 status of Christian schools and charities and to protect people from losing equal access to government benefits because they disagree with Justice Kennedy’s decision. Most importantly, President Santorum will use the Office of the President to begin a national discussion on reclaiming marriage – so that all children can be assured of their birthright of having the love and support of both a mother and a father in a stable healthy home.”

SCOTUS in effect , through the Obergefell case, reminded us that we indeed have Freedom of Religion – not the opposite!

What is said in Rick Santorum’s speech, enhances the fact that the SCOTUS Obergefell case decision, in favor of marriage equality, proves that we truly do have freedom of religion.

We are a nation of diverse beliefs and thought, and each and every one of us should be able to function equally under our system of government, regardless of our personal beliefs and practices. Thus our Constitution protects us, and the basis for our independence continues to serve us, even to this day, 239 years since our Declaration.  It shows how there is no room to base our communal lives on how any single religious group or subgroup touts their beliefs. Such would fail us as a nation.

There was no single argument brought into our courts to justify same-sex couples being excluded from marriage equality under our civil laws – and if it could be said that there were in fact any valid argument, it could only have been one based on religious beliefs.  And what would give one religious belief the right over another?  My religious belief allows me to marry my partner; whereas Rick’s does not. Hence true freedom of religion means that the civil law must allow for all belief systems to participate. It will not be a fair America if Rick’s religion were allowed to reign above mine! We are not a Christian Nation. And anyone who believes we are, is not only defecating on our Constitution but also upon the basis of our founding as a Nation.

Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics, etc. and any form or interpretation of these religions and beliefs are equally valid.  Due to diverse beliefs, religious and non-religious groups will never reach agreement  and so how can any one group claim to own the civil realm?   The religions still get their Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, Temples, etc., unfettered; and can marry who they choose – no religious group is forced by the law to marry anyone. The law does not force any religious group to change anything at all.

Some of the comments on Rick Santorum’s Facebook post follow: (@RickSantorum)

 

*The Shidduch (Hebrew: שִׁדּוּךְ‎, pl. shidduchim Hebrew: שִׁדּוּכִים‎, Aramaic שידוכין) is a system of matchmaking in which Jewish singles are introduced to one another in Orthodox Jewish communities for the purpose of marriage.

UPDATED:

And just in case you think I am kidding this has been posted on Rick Santorum’s Facebook Page:

“Our rights are given by God, not by Government” Rick Santorum – !