I am not a big lamdan by any stretch of the imagination [but I used to be a big Mets fan and I often stretch my imagination]. But I have been privileged to learn from great lamdanim [such as my mother]. One of the great principles of understanding Torah She-bial Peh is that when two Sages argue about a certain issue the argument is not random. He felt like this and the other rabbi felt like that. No. There is a deeper, underlying dispute than what seems on the surface.
In interpersonal relationships, it is the same way. When a couple argues about whatever, there are usually/always underlying issues that fuel the argument. The trick is to get to the root and solve the problem there. As long as they don't get beneath the surface, the arguments will continue to manifest themselves.
The same applies to issues that divides people in the public square. Let us take the Mishkav Zchor question we recently wrote about. What is the real argument?
The real argument is whether this act is inherently immoral and evil. Will it send the practitioners to hell. Or no - it is moral and no hell for anybody!
The Torah teaches that it is immoral and mandates capital punishment. That means that if a person does it under certain circumstances [two witnesses, forewarning, due legal process] he will be executed by the court. The Oral Law [which is also the stuff taught in dental school] teaches that someone who engages in such an act will regret it for the rest of eternity.
Heavy stuff!!!
Those who believe in Torah cannot tolerate it just as they can't tolerate killing, stealing, raping or pedophilia. They are all evil acts.
Those who are tolerant of such behavior or even encourage it, maintain that it is not an evil act, Hashem didn't forbid it with a death penalty and there will be no eternal consquences. So how can others be so intolerant? THEY are the evil ones.
So one can CALL oneself Orthodox, wear a Kippah, and keep Shabbos but if he believes that it is OK then he is essentially denying the Torah. So then his sociological identification as Orthodox, his Kippah, and his Shabbos don't mean anything.
THAT, IMHO, is at the root of this issue.
