I was searching for tips for new teachers and I was a little disheartened by all the simplistic, superficial tips I came across. Thank you for being honest about what to expect. Your list has been bookmarked and some tips I had to write down because I loved them so much!

Also, my son was big at birth (almost 11 lbs.). My wifes placenta was almost 8 lbs. They kept it with us in the recovery room in a big ol’ plastic tub….(I can see it in my minds eye…like it was yesterday…creepy!!)

They stuff they NEVER tell you before you get married….wow!

The “old” sociology affirmed this, and current does not say much different.

But to me, it seemed like the most reasonable conclusion from the data they had was, that we just don’t have the data to produce good studies about same-sex parents. Maybe that’s because same-sex parents aren’t always indicated, or maybe because the ones, who adopt children tend to be the ones, who do better.

But all in all, it seems that the best guess from the data is, that same-sex parents are like remarried parents or something. Not quite there with the nuclear family, but still, they have two parents, who love each other and who take care of their children.

I don’t see a sociological reason for the proscription so many seem to want. And even faith-based feelings don’t make that much sense to me as long as they pick just the same-sex couples.

The Bible condemns divorce, and all kinds of abandonment of family members (in that you always have the duty to take care of them). I don’t see the same condemnation towards cohabitation or single-parenting.

The final issue is, do we, as believers, have the right to force our values on people who don’t have them, just because some of us get an anxiety/panic attack when they see a gay couple or something.

In fact, I don’t see a reason to lay a special condemnation on homosexuality, among other forms of adultery and fornication. And besides, if you’re pronounced “man and wife” at city hall, have you made a covenant before God? No.

We should separate secular law from religious law. As a deeply religious person, I don’t see any justification to infuse religious law into secular law, if we pretend to live in a democracy. Democracy is not just about majority rule: it’s about minority rights, too. A majority that tramples the rights of minorities, is not a democratic, but a dictatorial one. I’d rather have the democratic one.

Thanks for your attention.

You are not under any special obligation to go outside of your comfort zone.

I have to disagree a little. We all must go a little out of our comfort zone to achieve anything good. It’s too easy to just do what we’ve always done, and stay in a state of spiritual and mental limbo.

“Reaching out” is going beyond your comfort zone. I know you know this, and I’m saying this just so that others who run into this don’t think you meant that it’s okay to not stretch ourselves.