The Christmas Lecture: "Get A Time Machine..."

There's a very interesting essay on Richard Dawkins website about change and how we make it.
And boy, does Fagburn love anything to do with the mighty Richard Dawkins.

The Gays Are Winning – And the Religious Right is Losing: What Nontheists Can Learn from the Success of the Homosexual Rights Movement
By Gregory S Paul

"The gays are winning. The culture war. The same culture war that religion is losing. Do not think that the gains of the former are not connected to the loses of the latter. Do realize that atheism is the friend of gay rights in a way that religion can never be, and that the gay cause is to the benefit of secularism. And that the rise in the fortunes of gays has important lessons for the atheist cause.
"When I pointed out that the gays are winning a couple of yearsat OpEdNews it did not seem as obvious what with the laws and amendments banning same sex marriage. And hate crimes against homosexuals continue. But the opening of the U.S. military to the service of out of the closet gays for the first time in the nation’s history, the lopsided Senate vote to that effect with major Republican support, and the large majority popular support for the historic change is making the success of the same-sex crowd undeniable. But to get an even better appreciation of how far gays have come let’s conduct a thought experiment.
"Get a time machine. Go back to, say, 1958. Destination, any well-populated place in America will serve our purposes. Stand on a heavily traveled sidewalk with a clipboard and pencil and pretend you are doing a survey. Ask folks as they pass by if they think gays, err, homosexuals, will ever be able to get married. Or serve without discrimination in the Army. Here's what will happen. Chances are fair you will get beat up, especially if you are in the south. After all, they are still into lynching the occasional black. Even if you don't get assaulted, people will look at you like you are insane. What's that? Homos carrying guns in the Marines. Getting married? Who could be crazy enough to imagine such a thing? What are you, some sort of pervert? Perhaps a faggot red (back when red meant pinko)? Who did you say you're taking this survey for? Get back on the time machine, quickly. Move forward in time to, say, 1988. Do the same thing. Chances that you'll get beat up will be far less. And remember to say gay, not homosexual. But the ultimate response will be similar. Gays, getting married? Say what..."

Now read on...

Happy Christmas.