Protection of Marriage: Why traditional marriage matters

Posted by: Admin on Wednesday, February 04, 2009 – 11:12 AM PST

By Bill Dolack
Valley American
Waynesboro, VA

Waynesboro- From coast to coast, traditional one-man/one-woman marriage is under attack. And that spells danger for America, say a number of local and national leaders.

From the Lisa Miller versus Janet Jenkins €”in which a former lesbian turned Christian is battling her former lover over the fate of the child born during their civil union—to the not so subtle threat from the homosexual community to overturn every state law against same-sex marriage, the battle rages unabated.

“The goal of the radical homosexual agenda is to eliminate any and all laws that uphold traditional family values,” says Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, a nationwide civil liberties law firm headquartered in Orlando, Florida. “If you want to catch a glimpse of what America will look like [in Virginia] if same-sex marriage is made legal, look no further than San Francisco. People of faith and those who believe in traditional marriage will be silenced—their speech and actions criminalized. Pastors and churches will groan under the burden of lawless tyrants. Children as young as five would be taught to experiment with sex, especially same-sex, since some groups say it is less ‘threatening’ for children of this age to ‘discover’ their ‘sexual identity.’ ”

“If man wants to be happy by marrying someone that God forbids, then he will not be happy nor is he eligible for God’s blessing on an illicit union,” adds Gary Cass, President of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. “God has revealed his standard in scripture and it is not always what we want to hear. It exposes our sinful nature and calls everyone to repentance. Having stable marriages and healthy families requires that we honor God’s institution on his terms.”

Gary Kreep has been in the thick of the battle over same-sex marriage. As executive director of the United States Justice Foundation and the Defense of Family Center, he participated first-hand in the fight to preserve traditional marriage in California.

“Recognizing same-sex marriage will require an expansion of government size and cost to handle the ‘divorces’ from such ‘marriages,’ and resulting ‘child custody disputes,’ and welfare for the ‘divorced spouses,’ as well as benefits for government employees in such ‘marriages,’ ” he says. “It will increase the cost to businesses of benefits, due to the inclusion of the ‘spouses’ of employees in such ‘marriages.’ According to studies, it will result in increased psychological problems in children, due to the lack of a father and mother, resulting in more anti-social behavior.”

Locally, Christians see a vital need to protect traditional marriage.

“I believe the same-sex marriage agenda is one of the greatest threats to America and all that it has stood for. Protecting traditional marriage must be one of our number one priorities as Christ-followers,” says Jeff Griffith, pastor of Community Fellowship Church of the Nazarene in Waynesboro. “The traditional marriage is the one institution that God ordained from the beginning of time. God’s word states that He would bless a man and a woman when they come together as a husband and wife. Not only are they blessed but so are their children and grandchildren, and they are blessed in all other areas of their lives.”

Don McClure, pastor at Ridgeview Baptist Church, agrees.

“The basis of our lives in Virginia has been traditionally built on the Judeo-Christian practice of marriage,” he notes. “In order for our homes, our children, and our society to function properly, this must be maintained. We cannot try to alter God’s plan for mankind and expect to be successful.”

But that is exactly what homosexual activists are attempting to do here in Virginia and across the country.

The push for same-sex marriage is coupled with an attempt to criminalize religious speech. Liberty Counsel has been the target of harassment from the National Center for Lesbian Rights which is seeking in court a fine of over $100,000, charging the Christian group with engaging in a national campaign to “take away” their rights.

“While the motion is unfounded and frivolous, they are asking the court to send a message to Liberty Counsel to back off our defense of traditional family values,” says Staver. “I have never seen such intimidating tactics. They want us fined for exercising our right to free speech and for legally defending traditional family values.”

And this attack is just the tip of the iceberg.

Countries throughout Europe have already prohibited Christians from describing homosexuality as sinful, calling it “hate speech.” A pastor in Sweden was arrested in the pulpit of his church while reading Bible verses concerning homosexuality. His conviction was later overturned.

Even here in the United States, a chilling development shows that homosexual activists are intent on forcing their lifestyle on society. Two months ago, California residents passed Proposition 8, amending their state constitution to recognize only marriage between a man and a woman. This followed a ruling by their state supreme court in which same-sex marriage was legalized against the will of a large majority of the people.

In the days leading up to the election, numerous verbal and physical attacks were made upon Proposition 8 proponents—those favoring traditional marriage. Signs in favor of passage were stolen, church property and private automobiles vandalized, and people’s jobs and pastors’ lives threatened simply for exercising their right to campaign and vote in favor of traditional marriage.

One television station carried footage of an elderly Christian woman holding a cross at a pro-same-sex rally. The woman was mocked and threatened, and the cross torn from her hands, then ground into the dirt by protesters.

And when Barack Obama announced that Rick Warren—author of The Purpose Driven Life and a supporter of traditional marriage—would give the invocation at the inauguration, homosexual groups across the country were angered. Many even questioned Obama’s commitment to their agenda.

During last year’s primary season, Obama created a controversy when he said a passage of scripture dealing with homosexuality had little meaning.

“I will tell you that I don’t believe in gay marriage, but I do think that people who are gay and lesbian should be treated with dignity and respect and that the state should not discriminate against them,” Obama said at Nelsonville, Ohio. “So, I believe in civil unions that allow a same-sex couple to visit each other in a hospital or transfer property to each other. I don’t think it should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state. If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans. That’s my view. But we can have a respectful disagreement on that.”

This raised the ire of many evangelical Christians who noted that the passage in question—Romans 1:26-27—clearly refers to homosexual sex as “vile affections.”

While Obama said he does not favor same-sex marriage, his opposition to the federal Defense of Marriage Act—signed into law by Democrat Bill Clinton—is, in effect, de facto support. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is the law that protects states from being forced to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. If DOMA is overturned—which Obama has repeatedly said he wants to see happen—the “full faith and credit clause” of the Constitution will force states like Virginia to honor homosexual marriages performed in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Currently, 41 states have either a law or constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage. In many states, when put on the ballot, they have passed by huge margins. Despite the obvious will of the people, activist courts are finding a “right” to same-sex marriage in their state constitutions and forcing it upon the people.

Justices compare the homosexual battle for marriage rights to the African-American struggle for civil rights. They fall upon the faulty reasoning that, just as blacks can’t change the color of their skin, neither can a homosexual change his or her sexual habits.

Of course, the fight over the past generation for civil rights for black Americans has been based on the biblical concepts of equality and justice. The homosexual demand for same-sex marriage, the ability to adopt children, and so on, is a battle which has no biblical basis.

The Bible clearly states—right from the opening pages—that God’s desire is for a man and a woman to marry and have children. Studies have shown that children raised in a household with a mother and father, perform better in school and have fewer behavioral problems. Same-sex marriage robs a child of the household God intended for them to have, and substitutes a second “mother” or “father.” This union is also unable to reproduce, and needs to rely on adoption (in the case of male homosexuals) or adoption and/or artificial insemination (in the case of lesbians).

Other studies have shown a much higher suicide rate for homosexuals. Also, a 2002 report from the Centers for Disease Control shows homosexual men have a rate of HIV/AIDS that is nine times higher than heterosexuals. Many fear these traits—along with a trend toward multiple sex partners—will be passed on to children raised by homosexual couples.

Yet Christians who bring up these facts during the same-sex marriage debate are often targeted by homosexual activists.

“These advocates of the radical homosexual and transsexual agenda are trying to turn Liberty Counsel’s legitimate legal argument in defense of family into a ‘hate crime’ that must be punished,” says Staver.

“As everywhere, the strategy is to bring lawsuit after lawsuit to challenge state DOMAs, hoping to find a sympathetic judge to overturn the laws,” adds Kreep. “Plus, they’re working to elect supporters of same-sex marriage to state, local and federal positions, and judges where they are elected, to change the laws.”

While working through the courts and in elections to further their agenda, intimidation of traditional marriage supporters is often part of the playbook. One need look no further than events in California when voters passed Proposition 8 last November.

Supporters of the constitutional amendment have been targeted by homosexual activists in the aftermath of the vote. Phone calls, emails, letters and postcards have been received in which men and women who voted in favor of traditional marriage have been chastised, mocked, and even threatened with death.

“If I had a gun, I would have gunned you down,” reads one email. “If you thought 9/11 was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet,” reads another. “We have plans for you and your friends,” says yet another.

But despite the viciousness often exhibited by radical homosexual activists, Griffith and McClure say that the homosexuals themselves are not the enemy.

“For us to try to preserve marriage is not to hate anybody,” says McClure, “it’s just to protect the beauty and sanctity of marriage for ourselves and our children.”

“God’s word is very clear about this issue of same-sex relationships,” adds Griffith. “Thos individuals who choose such a lifestyle are living in direct opposition to God and his word, and place themselves in a position to forfeit God’s blessings. But it is true that God’s word is clear that the sin of same-sex marriage can and does receive his forgiveness just as any other sin that is committed. I have seen God’s restorative grace and love work in the lives of people who have been trapped in this sin. His love and grace is always working to restore and redeem people.”