Too Good to Pass Up

Virgin Birth Expected at Christmas -- By Komodo Dragon

Nature, following the liturgical year of Christians, had somehow chosen to mimic at least part of the Nativity Story by reproducing the "immaculate conception" in a komodo dragon. The biological term is parthenogenesis, which in this case simply means a female komodo dragon ovulated and had her own eggs begin to divide and produce new life without the help of any male sperm.

This "miracle" is of scientific note. Though what is even more amazing is that the komodo dragon joins a list of other animals known in nature to be able to "immaculately conceive."

Of course, speaking from a purely spiritual point of view, all life is in some sense at its base, truly miraculous. Though this is again fodder for the creationists and evolutionists who tend to get tripped up in such glad tidings of great joy.

Defending the Slippery Slope

N.J. governor signs gay civil unions law
Tom Hester (AP Writer)

"We must recognize that many gay and lesbian couples in New Jersey are in committed relationships and deserve the same benefits and rights as every other family in this state," Gov. Jon S. Corzine said in signing the legislation.

NJ becomes the third state in the Union to legalize some form of same-sex relationships. The new law provides many of the same legal protections and rights for heterosexual couples but opts to call this "civil union" rather than marriage. Opponents as well as gay activist worry that this may set up a parallel track of separate (equal or not) cases leading to more complicated and uneven legislation. Other more conservative or traditional people tend to see it as an eroding of social fabric and the institution of (heterosexual) marriage.

"It's same-sex marriage without the title," said John Tomicki, president of the New Jersey Coalition to Preserve and Protect Marriage. "It uproots the cardinal values of our culture."

While I can understand some of Mr. Tomicki's sentiment, I feel like he's only looking at one half of the puzzle. The other half is that what uproots marriage, whether it is heterosexual or same-sexed, is the high rate of divorce. If you want to protect the institution of marriage, then your focus ought to be about strengthening the partners in a relationship, not scapegoating someone else's relationship to explain why your own institutional view and lifestyle is failing.