By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
IndyPoltics.Org
The one thing I admire most about God is his/her wicked sense of humor, especially when it comes to dealing with folks who claim everything they do for your benefit is in his/her name.
Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org.
Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org.
Now, let me start by saying I am freely admit I am not a religious person by any stretch of the imagination. I do believe in a Creator. However, I don’t allow anyone else to tell me how that relationship should work. My Creator and I have a great thing going. I thank him/her on a regular basis for all cool things he/she allows me to do and for the awesome people to hang out with and he/she lets me keep doing those cool things and hang out with great people.
Commentary button in JPG – no shadowI bring this up because my “pro-family†friends have been doing victory laps following the primary defeats of Northeast Indiana State Representatives Rebecca Kubacki and Kathy Heuer. They claim in numerous e-mails that have bordered on manifestos that Kubacki and Heuer’s opposition to the marriage amendment in its original form is what did them in. The marriage amendment was part of it, but any intellectually honest observer knows there were a lot more moving parts involved: low voter turnout, late starts by both candidates, etc. But hey, in politics a win is a win, so I will give them their due. (Notice I did not use the term devil).
Now where God comes into play is the day after the holy warriors declared victory and began saber rattling against other lawmakers who had issues with the marriage amendment, a federal judge ruled that Indiana must recognize one same-sex couple from out of state. One of the women was terminally ill and wanted to die in her home state. They were married legally out-of-state but Indiana did not recognize their marriage. So they did any American would do. They exercised their God-given right to take their government to court. And they won their fight – although it’s important to note the court ruled the decision only applies to their case and it is being appealed to the 7th Circuit. Frankly, I don’t see how opponents win, because time after time courts have come back ruling that there is no rational reason for the government to deny same-sex couples the right to be as happy or as miserable as everyone else who’s gone down the road of matrimony.
And that’s where God’s wicked sense of humor comes in. Less than one day after the marriage amendment supporters were declaring victory and getting ready to launch another crusade, a federal judge comes along and formally opens the door that they have been fighting for years to keep closed and raise money. During the entire marriage amendment debate I argued an amendment to Indiana’s state constitution would do nothing to stop a federal judge from declaring it unconstitutional and throwing it out. And it looks like I was right, but what else is new?
As I stated earlier, I am not a religious person, but I have faith in my Creator that everything works out the way it’s supposed to in the long run. And it appears to me, that in the long run, the big guy/gal in the sky wants all of us to be happy and thankful. I can’t think of something to be more happy and thankful for than finding the person you want to spend the rest of your life with and making it happen.
No, I take that back. The only thing cooler than that is when the Creator uses his/her wicked sense of humor and makes stuff happen that people who invoke his/her name to make money and scare people don’t like. It shows how awesome he/she is and how powerless they are.
Abdul is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org. He is also a frequent contributor to numerous Indiana media outlets. He can be reached at abdul@indypolitics.org
