Defining Marriage

 
     

     

 

Christians across America are sensing that our beloved country is in serious trouble economically, constitutionally, and spiritually. This is a time for all of us to engage in fervent prayer for our nation. One important prayer focus for Christians is the protection of God’s definition for marriage. This summer, several court decisions have attacked traditional marriage despite the fact that marriage was established and defined by God.

 

Proposition 8 Overturned

Recently, an openly homosexual U.S. District Court Judge in San Francisco, Vaughn Walker, ruled that Proposition 8, which upheld traditional marriage in California, was unconstitutional. In Perry v. Schwarzenegger, he said it violated the United States Constitution’s due process and equal protection clauses. In making this decision, Judge Walker decided that the 7 million Californians who passed Proposition 8 intended to discriminate against homosexuals. He stated: “Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples.”

Judge Walker’s decision was immediately appealed to the Ninth Circuit federal court. It will likely be heading to the United States Supreme Court for a final decision, affecting marriage laws in all 50 states. Although 31 other states have similarly voted to uphold traditional marriage, gay activists took their cause to court, allowing one judge to override the democratic votes of a vast majority of Americans.

 

The Tyranny of Judges

Thomas Jefferson’s worst nightmare seems to have come to pass. Jefferson was very concerned that judges would become despots and overrule the rights of the people. In 1820, he wrote to a friend,

“You seem to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions, a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so.”

Jefferson realized that the Constitution protects the will of the people, not the opinions of judges. But instead of protecting the people’s vote on Proposition 8, Judge Walker used his judicial office to promote the agenda of a small minority who want to change the definition of marriage.

The definition of marriage, instituted by God and practiced by every culture since the creation of man, is under attack in America today. There is no discrimination against homosexuals in America with regard to marriage, no unequal treatment. Homosexuals are equally as free to marry as any other American. Their problem is that the definition of marriage itself requires every person to marry someone of the opposite sex. The fact that homosexuals don’t want to enter into marriage as it has always been defined doesn’t give them the right to use the courts to change that definition to suit their wishes. Changing the definition of marriage, as Judge Walker has done, undermines the most important building block of any society.

Judge Walker described the “ability to marry” as a fundamental right that cannot be denied to gays and lesbians. But this conclusion is complete and utter nonsense. Every society in history has placed restrictions on the “ability to marry.” You can’t marry your sister. You can’t legally be married to two or three people at the same time. You can’t marry someone who is already married. And you can’t marry someone of the same sex. Marriage by definition involves two people of opposite sexes who are—theoretically, at least—biologically capable of reproducing and forming families.

 

DOMA Overturned

It is possible that another equally outrageous case, Massachusetts vs. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, could beat the California case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In July, Judge Joseph Taura, a federal district court judge in Massachusetts, ruled that legally married gay couples in Massachusetts were wrongly being denied the federal financial benefits of marriage. He ruled as unconstitutional the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which allows states to decide for themselves whether to recognize same-sex unions.

DOMA was passed and signed into law in 1996. Since then, 31 states have enacted some form of protection for traditional man-woman marriage.  However, a few states have taken the opposite view, generally by state court fiat. Same-sex couples can now legally marry in Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Washington, D.C.

The California and Massachusetts cases demonstrate that gay rights activists will use any argument they can to change the definition of marriage. Consistency is not important to them. Judge Walker ruled that it violates the 14th Amendment for citizens of California to determine the definition of marriage for their own state. On the other hand, the Massachusetts court ruled that the 10th Amendment protects a state’s right to define marriage for itself. Judge Tauro stated in his Massachusetts decision, “Congress undertook this classification (protecting heterosexual marriage) for the one purpose that lies entirely outside of legislative bounds, to disadvantage a group of which it disapproves. And such a classification the Constitution clearly will not permit.” It seems that activist judges will bend the law any way they can to obtain the outcome they want.

If either of these decisions were to be upheld by the United States Supreme Court, gay marriage could win federal constitutional protection, ending all state and federal bans against same-sex marriage, whether by statute or state constitutional amendment. This result could have dire consequences for those churches that still uphold the Biblical definition of marriage. The success of either of these decisions at the United State Supreme Court would place churches in a direct line of fire.

When judges place their own prejudices and biases above the will of the people and the obvious intention of our Bible-based Constitution, our nation is undermined. This issue is not just about counting votes. It is about courts trying to redefine a relationship instituted by God and recognized by our Founders, who anticipated that any legitimate laws would be consistent with God’s laws.

Human beings form a wide variety of meaningful and valuable relationships. There are strong ties between siblings, immediate and extended family members, co-workers, and lifelong friends. Yet, historically, only one out of all these relationships is defined as “marriage”—that special relationship between a man and a woman who unite to form a family, the chief building block of any society. Without families, government becomes the chief provider for all its citizens. Elevating marriage within society does not discriminate against other important relationships, it protects the definition of marriage as a positive means of protecting our society.

When judges usurp the continuous record of society and assert their own ideas instead, our nation is diminished and our society is placed on the road to ruin. How can God bless America if Americans decide to thumb their noses at Him and side with the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah instead? God still determines the fate of every nation. Our Founders recognized that fact, and it is still true for America today.

 

The Solution

There is hope. It is most importantly found in prayer. In the darkest moments of his battle to abolish slavery in England, William Wilberforce wrote that he believed God would still heed the prayers of His people. God heard the people’s prayers, and slavery was abolished in England. Similarly, God will hear the prayers of His people in America, and He is still capable of answering them.

There is only one political act that would forever settle the marriage question for America. Although enthusiasm for this solution seems to have waned over the past decade, passage of a Federal Marriage Amendment to the United States Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman is the only democratic action that will end this controversy. With 31 states already having voted to uphold traditional marriage, it is likely that a Federal Marriage Amendment could be ratified if passed by Congress and signed by the President.

There is not much time left to fix this problem. Public schools, entertainment, and the media are deceiving our children into thinking that same-sex unions are normal. Polls show that younger people favor same-sex marriage in greater percentages than older people. Younger Americans have not been taught any reasons for continuing to honor marriage as a special God-ordained institution.

The bottom line is that our culture needs to turn back to God and to His principles. God has no obligation to continue blessing America if we turn our backs on Him. Please join us in praying that God will have mercy on our nation and that He will heal our land. Thank you for your friendship and financial support of the Christian Law Association as we stand for righteousness in our land.