4. The family is sacred.

The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

Now these principles start to get a bit more complex [except for #8 which is a no-brainer].

Let’s start with sacred. This really only means “set apart” but in common usage it is a religious term which means “special” and in some contexts (like with Indiana Jones) can mean “you better not mess with this or all sorts of bad things will befall you.”

Then there is family. This is a concept which we have trouble defining clearly. Some people mean a husband and a wife and their immediate children. Some will mean any blood relative. Some mean those who reside in the same house. I wonder if the two gay white men and their adopted black son in my church fall into the category of family. Will the authors of this document hold their family sacred?

I like the use of the term spouse. That is gender neutral and applies equally to gay and lesbian marriages. I like the implication that the relationship is mutual and neither has a right to dominance over the other. No “head of the household” stuff here. But what about the ultimate authority? I thought that was God.

But I guess what they really mean here is not that the marital unit has ultimate authority but that the government doesn’t. I really like that. I don’t want anyone in the government telling anyone in my family what they can and cannot do. I especially don’t want the government telling my daughter that she can’t have an abortion if she wants one.

Nevertheless, I would just as soon have someone in the government tell my neighbors what they can and cannot do when they are having a loud party and I want to sleep.

I guess my biggest problem with this is that it suggests that the government is somehow the other. What happened to government of the people, for the people, and by the people? If we aren’t the government in a democracy, who is? Are we only talking here about those people who get a government paycheck? Are we talking bureaucrats and congressmen and judges and firefighters and cops? Are we talking about teachers? Are we talking about my wife?  But she is my spouse.  Or is she the government. I’m confused.