Brad Pitt: I'll marry when everyone can

[King]

LOL! Sorry, I skipped the drama and went right on to commenting on it. Hehehe.

I didn't really read anyone's comments, to be honest. LOL.

[SteveFrame]

First off JSF the judging of what is Brad's motive in doing this. YOu make the assumption that he is doing it because he is afraid of commitment or he wants publicity. I don't know what his motive is and why is their motives automatically suspect in this. And the statement about making Angelina a honest woman. It is just a moral judgement on a person to where you are saying they are living in sin whether you came out and said it or not. And Brad could have a stronger committment to Angelina and not be married than many men who are married have to their wives. You may say your not making judgements, but you are. Automatically you have judged Brad Pitt to be afraid of committment, not caring at all about the gay marriage issue and using it for publicity and to avoid marriage, and calling Brad and Angelina sinners.

I know you assumed it was the gay marriage thing that totally offended me. You having the view that it is wrong does not offend me. I disagree with you on it but I was not offended just because we disagree. We all have our different views. Even people have different views about living together, but what I get tired of and that constantly offends is people making judgements about people. And that is exactly what your whole post was.

I just find judging others to be highly offensive.

[Toadstool]

Christ never said anything about homosexuals. Scripture supposedly condemning gays all comes from the Old Testament (the same book that also advocates slavery and the subjugation of women)

It puts you in an iffy place to preach tolerance while at the same time advocating denial of equal rights.

[alwaysAMC]

I applaud Brad and Angelina....it prob. won't do much, but the effort and stance is very much appreciated.

I should probably just keep quiet in regards to the debate, or I'll get myself in trouble.

[kelli_blue]

That's exactly how I feel too.

[SarahJoyBrownFF]

I agree with you completely! Celebrities are so out of touch with the main stream is ridiculous. This is just his way to cover for NOT marrying this woman, who he cheated with when he was already in a marriage. Oh, how nobel of him!

[Dan]

"I think what needs to be done is separate "marriage" in the religion sense from "marriage" in the legal sense."

I agree. I'm for civil unions. My reasoning for this is that marriage has been, primarily, a religious institution for centuries. Therefore, the seperation of Church and State is applicable. While that seperation prevents the creation of a theocracy in government, people seem to forget that the opposite is also true. The seperation protects religious institutions and beliefs from government regulation. A civil union, however, will give gay and lesbian couples the rights and freedoms that they are guarenteed under the Constitution without revoking religious beliefs.

"Would anyone consider me wrong and too accepting if I made friends with homosexuals and lesbians, even knowing that I follow the Word of God? Would my being friends with them make me a sinner because of my faith? I'm serious...because I have a lot of friends that are homosexual and I don't treat them any differently than my heterosexual friends. The thing is that I tell them that I follow the Word of Christ, however, I don't make it a point to wave my Bible in their face every chance I get. They are very well aware that I'm a Christian and follow those believes, however, they also know that I will not shun them or turn my nose up at them because of their sexual preference."

I certainly hope not, cause if so, I'm in trouble with you lol. My best friend came out in senior year and it really forced me to reevaluate my beliefs because I want to follow the Bible yet still wish him all the happiness in the world. And I feel like I came up with the best solution.

The one thing I cannot stand is that some people will harp about God hating gay people or that they are not equal under the Lord and that is not true whatsoever. I think that goes to dissolve the collective credability of the Christian faith. It says in the Bible to love thy neighbor and that includes EVERYONE.

[Jackie]

That's where it gets tricky. The concept of "marriage" is not "owned" by any church and never has been. It's tricky for anthropologists and historians to pinpoint when exactly marriage became a custom in the world, but most agree that it marriage existed BEFORE the so-called "salvation" religions began to appear.

Marriage exists in this country without the aid or presence of religion. I consider myself agnostic, so when I got married, my husband and I were not married in a religious setting. We don't practice any faith, nor was any religious sacrament or traditions present in our wedding, but in the eyes of the country, our marriage is no different than anyone else's. Now because we don't have God in our lives, should our union be called something different? NO.

I have no problem with churches refusing to perform gay marriages. It's their beliefs. But marriage does not have to go hand and in hand with religion, and can be performed without the church.

[Dan]

"But marriage does not have to go hand and in hand with religion, and can be performed without the church."

Yup agreed. I know in Latin American countries, they have two seperate ceremonies, a civil ceremony and a church wedding. That goes hang-in-hand IMO with the civil union idea that I believe in.

I dunno. Maybe its just my tendency to try to find a middle ground in tense situations like these lol.

[Jackie]

THANK YOU for pointing this out. What I love most about people against homosexuals (thanks to what the Bible tells them) is that they are pleased to adopt the Bible's supposed attitudes towards homosexuals, yet fail to acknowledge the other things the Bible teaches. The Old Testament is a horror of a read. Misogyny and advocation of slavery are something I certainly don't believe in, but it's right in the Bible for everyone to see. That's one of the reasons I will never support Christianity.

[Dan]

"That's one of the reasons I will never support Christianity."

Just a quick note: Christianity supports the New Testament. Many of the traditions and such in the Old Testament were wiped out because of the New Testament.

[Toadstool]

To be fair, not all Christians claim to be rigid fundamentalists and can see the contradictions between Christ's philosphy of love and inclusion in the New Testament and the pre-Christian Old Testament. But then again, even the most rigid of Christian fundamentalists cherry-pick the bible to some degree, whether they admit it or not.

True, but when Christians quote scripture to say homosexuality is wrong, they quote from the Old Testament.

[Meredith]

I just thought it was his own lame excuse to get out of tying the knot again.

Most divorced people have commitment phobia.

Then it reminded me of that cheesey book I read last year:

"He's just not that into you."

I think Brad might get married again, but maybe not to HER.

He was engaged to Gwyneth before he married Jenn.

Maybe he's carrying a torch for Gwyneth. She was the "love of his life" and his "angel".

I think Angelina was a rebound girl. I don't think she CAUSED the divorce.

She just contributed to something that was already falling apart.

Most marriages in Hollywood don't last anyway.

[JER Soaps Fan]

But that's my whole point, lol! What homosexuals and other groups who try to say others are intolerant don't get is that true 'tolerance' applies to EVERYONE -- including bigots. That's why I said it works both ways. Just live and let live.

Thank you guys for saying this! I know if I were just the only one who said it, most on this board would get on top of me because I do tend to have opinions that contrast with more liberal types here. I'm not judging anybody; I'm just saying that if somebody REALLY wants to marry someone so badly, they won't let anything get in their way. Because that's their desire and that's their choice. If you want it so badly, you just won't deprive yourself of it. That's ridiculous. It seems (and again, it just seems this way), that to all of a sudden suggest you're not going to marry someone for political reasons, is just a cop-out. Especially when you've already BEEN married, and gay rights issues are nothing new.

[Keith]

You're free to your opinions, but you constantly preach to everyone. I happen to have a problem with that. You always present 'your case' like anyone who disagrees with you is unworthy of their own opinion. Maybe I'm taking things out of context; maybe I'm completely off-base. if so, so be it. I'm human.

Ther ehave definitely been times when you haven't been tolerant about people disagreeing with you, so don't give me that, please. You can't preach to an undertolerated group about tolerance. You have it. It's not a two-way street until both parties have equality on the issue at hand. It's a moot argument.

As far as Brad goes, I think it's great that he's used his status to make a statement that many others have tried to make, with far less impact. Hollywood marriages don't last, a self-fulfilling prophecy, but that doesn't make his intentions wicked.

Dude, that's SO going in my signature!