"According to Clinton, because Jefferson owned slaves, his contention that 'all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights' was not followed by him or many of his contemporaries," Thomas says, explaining that Clinton asserted that the end of slavery and civil rights legislation for people of color and lesbians and gay men are part of an evolution towards getting nearer to all people being equal.

"[But] Clinton didn't create the world," Thomas says. "God did. And God designed norms that are in our best interests. When we act outside those norms -- such as for homosexual sex -- we cause damage to ourselves and to our wider culture. The unpleasant consequences of sexually transmitted diseases are not the result of intolerant bigots seeking to denigrate others. They are the result of violating God's standards." In a surprising moral evolution for himself, Thomas allows that "homosexuals deserve laws protecting them from hate crimes and discrimination in employment (so long as employers are also protected, such as churches and religious schools, which find such behavior offensive to their biblical principles)."

But he then states, "If, as the president claimed, morals are evolutionary, is there any place where he would draw the line and, if so, on what basis? When we change the original standard, there can be no standard left except popular opinion. That has historically led to destruction of nations."

Thomas' argument regarding Thomas Jefferson, "norms" and God is flawed in two very basic ways. The first being that whether or not one believes in God, that has nothing to do with the governance of the United States.

Unless Cal Thomas and his radical religious friends have moved to another country, America is not a theocracy, no matter how devoutly they may wish it was.

The second problem with Thomas' argument is that it completely dispenses with the growing movements within many communities of faith to acknowledge lesbians and gay men as equals. His bigoted stance that God is selective in his creation, and his love, is one that is being questioned and refuted by many fair-minded Americans of faith.

Let Thomas know that the evolution of his own thinking which supports employment and hate crime protections for lesbians and gay men is encouraging, but that his specious "original standard" argument makes no sense.

Contact: Cal Thomas, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, 218 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012, fax: 213.237.4992.

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