1958- 96% of whites opposed to interracial marriage.

[DrWeird]

According to a Gallup poll conducted at the time.

This is a reminder for people who think that the people and not the courts should decide who gets married. And that those who hate have no business telling other people who they can and can't love.

[DrWeird]

1. Deuteronomy

7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

7:3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.


And they used the Bible, specifically Deuteronomy 7:3, to defend their bigotry.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. Bigots have always cherry-picked the Bible

to support their smallminded agendas. None of the critics of gay marriage has presented any facts to support their positions. Their opposition has rested entirely on their beliefs and on cultural or biblical tradition. It is just as easy to find passages in the Bible that support gay marriage as oppose it.

[NewJeffCT]

8. I agree

People cherry-pick Biblical phrases and abuse them. I always like to go to http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/

Besides, I believe various Christian churches not only sanctioned, but performed gay marriage until the 1300s.

[CatWoman]

18. Yep

slave owners used to quote the bible as an authority and justification for their actions.

Try as I could, I never have been able to locate those passages.

[NewJeffCT]

23. here is one advocating slavery for women & children

but, you have to kill then men. It is from Deuteronomy (sp?)

20:10
When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
20:11
And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
20:12
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
20:13
And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

20:14
But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

[loudnclear]

22. Deut. was meant just for Hebrews (Jews). Understand that.

Especially Deut. I know a lot of Christians especially evangelicals, can't stomach the notion that old testament was meant for the nation of Israel and the the Rabbi (Talumd) have shaped it to suit the nation's interest throughout history. Get over it!

[tjwash]

28. Using the bible to make oneself feel better ...

...about ones bigotries is nothing new. The first book of the bible, Genesis, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah for example. Funny though, however the same bigots usually omit chapter 19, verse 18 when Lot offers his two virgin daughters to the crowd so that they might rape them. You know--old testament family values at it's finest.


Also common is to say Christ himself is against homosexual behavior by citing Corinthians 6:9-10 written by Paul, but failing to mention Luke 16:18, where Christ defined a man or woman who has divorced and remarried as being an adulterer. Adultery is listed right by homosexual behavior on the Corinthians list of sins that will keep a person out of Heaven. I sure would like to see some of these people apply the same rules to their adulterous remarried church members as they apply to homosexuals. I guess one sin is worse than another.

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. It would be interesting to see the same poll taken today (nt)

[DrWeird]

12. The statistic being bandied about...

is that 60% of americans are against gay marriages.

Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.

[_Jumper_]

29. Whites range from the low to mid 60's

Non-Southern whites approach the 70's. Here is a graph that illustrates the sea change that is occurring:

[DrWeird]

30. Thanks for the numbers.

Where do they come from? That would be a nice graph to put up everytime somebody says they think racism doesn't exist anymore.

[_Jumper_]

32. Good idea. I use it all the time.

It proves that although we are making rapid progress a ton of racism still exists. That data is from the Pew Research Center. Here is a link to their findings regarding race in America:

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=754

[DrWeird]

35. Thanks a bunch.

nt

[chiburb]

3. But But...

That was for the sake of the CHILDREN! Think how hard their lives would be, constantly being teased and taunted because their parents weren't the same color. Best to nip it in the bud...

(Sad to say, especially at DU, but the above was sarcasm!)

[shanti]

9. some people still think this

unfortunately....:-( however, they haven't met my extremely well-adjusted biracial son and his biracial friends. unless one has family members who are biracial, they really know nothing about this issue.

[rhino91063]

4. Excellent post

Do you have a link to back up that Gallup poll?

[DrWeird]

6. No, no link directly to the poll.

But I googled it, and it's been cited numerous times in various places. I learned it from a recent issue of The Oregonian.

[Maeve]

7. Couldn't find that but did find this:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-01-25-couples_x.htm

"Critics of gay marriage point to polls that seem to support their position. In a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll last month, 65% said they oppose same-sex marriage. But mass opinion should not dictate judicial decisions. In 1948, when California became the first state to strike down a ban on interracial marriage, nine out of 10 Americans opposed such unions."

Your date might be off, but the principle holds.

[shanti]

10. cali was the first?

wow, i didn't know this...but i live here and the reality is obvious;-)

[DrWeird]

11. Nope, 1958.

<http://www.kqed.org/w/baywindow/othercolors/changingtimes/>

One year before the state of Virginia sentenced Mr. and Mrs. Loving (ironic, eh?) to one year in prison for interracial marriage.

Seven years later the law was overturned by the US supreme court.

[Maeve]

17. Thank you for finding the link

I missed that one, but had seen the other quote earlier this week.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Muddleoftheroad]

14. Many African-Americans oppose it even today

You want to get dirty looks among your relatives? Try bringing a (fill in the blank here, white, Asian, Hispanic, etc.) girl to a family event. The women especially will be highly offended.

[DrWeird]

16. Really. My in-laws like me quite a bit.

Never had a problem with the african american community. The only people that give us dirty looks are redneck hillbilles.

[CatWoman]

20. Blacks don't trip like that

for all the abuse and ass kicking we have weathered, we are quite accepting as a people.

I'm not saying there are some blacks who are not racist -- of course some are.

But as a whole, we just don't trip over race like whites do.

[pnb]

26. Well, my in-laws like me too

But there was fair amount of hostility from some of her family and the black community, at least when we lived up north. We live outside Atlanta now and people seem much more accepting of interracial relationships here.

Actually in NY, the black community had far more of a problem with our relationship than did the white community.

[_Jumper_]

31. Define "many"

Polls consistently show that approximately 90% of African-Americans support it.

[DrWeird]

34. LOL.

That's about the same number that voted Democratic last presidential election.

I wonder about the "other 10%". Is that like the ten percent of florida jews who voted for Pat Buchanan?

[_Jumper_]

37. That 10% is real. They are Armstrong Williams, JC Watts types

There are some self-hating African-Americans out there. It is interesting how the percentage of African-Americans opposing interracial marriage corresponds to the percentage voting Republican...

[DrWeird]

40. Not so sure. I bet a good portion is statistical error.

And people lying on the polls.

Consider that any given poll at DU will invariably have a ten percent voting for the typical freeper line.

Even if it's a really cut and dry question.

[NewJeffCT]

33. well, my wife is asian

She is Asian and I'm white and my family absolutely adores my wife - and this includes cousins, grandmothers, aunts (my uncles have passed away) and nephews (6 nephews, no nieces)... I was with another 'all american white girl' in the late 90s before meeting my wife and I know my family likes my current non-white wife a lot better than my ex... I have actually gotten comments like, "I saw your ex at the grocery store last night and I'm so glad you're not with her..." or "I'm so glad you're with Helen."

I've dated women of all races & backgrounds and the only time I noticed comments was when I was with a Filipino woman and another time when I was with a black woman. And, this was only 1 time with a black woman out of several black women that I dated.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Brewman_Jax]

19. Good point!

The rabid right still wants to control what goes on behind closed doors, as long as it isn't business.

What happened to their tenet of smaller government and laissez faire? :eyes:

[apsuman]

21. not to get flamed here, but...

In 1958, I dare say most people saw marriage as the gateway to sex. Sure people had sex before marriage, but it was shunned in every public way available. Marriage was idealized out the wazoo, to the point of being unrealistic.

Today, the vast majority of people clearly accept that people have sex not only before marriage but without any inclination of being married to each other. Hell, society even accepts out of wedlock births without even a blink anymore.

[DrWeird]

24. I'm not sure I understand your point.

Could you rephrase it?

[apsuman]

25. ...

That the comparison is a fallacy as many things have changed since 1958.

[DrWeird]

27. Still not following.

In 1958, marriage = sex? Therefore when people were against interracial marriage they were really against interracial sex?

Where as today, marriage = ???. And people who are against gay marriage are against ???

[varun]

36. Alabama removed the interracial marriage ban in...2000!

http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/07/alabama.interracial/

and 41% of the voters in alabama still oppose interracial mariages.

[_Jumper_]

38. Only 31% of Alabama's whites approve of it

There is a difference between wanting it banned and approving of it. 15% of whites want it banned but 1/3 to 2/5 of whites oppose it.

[DrWeird]

39. It was even more recent here in Oregon.

With about the same numbers.