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The False Religion of Marriage Equality in America and How It is Debasing Christianity

The False Religion of Marriage Equality in America and How It is Debasing Christianity

COMMENTARY

By David W. Virtue DD
www.virtueonline.org
May 24, 2015

On any scale, and by any reckoning, the speed with which the gay behemoth is rolling over America can only be paralleled by the blitzkrieg of Nazi Germany in World War II.

With a gay population of less than 1.5% of the total population, a small group of wealthy, upwardly mobile, mostly white middle class pansexualists have seduced a nation into believing that their behavior is good and right in the eyes of God (mainline Protestant churches). The United State(s) is forcing "gay" marriage on a quiescent nation that has been bullied and cowed into a false compassion for a deadly behavior that has taken the lives globally of more than 30 million men and women.

In the U.S., the figures are staggering despite a huge public relations effort by politically motivated homosexuals to successfully persuade a president, most politicians, and not a small number of clergy to first legitimize a behavior and then a nation into changing the laws that have governed marriage for more than 2000 years!

Even as I write, more than 1.2 million people in the US are living with HIV infection with almost 1 in 7 (14%) unaware of their infection. Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSMa), particularly young black/African American MSM, are most seriously affected by HIV. The CDC estimates that 1,201,100 persons aged 13 years and older are living with HIV infection, including 168,300 (14%) who are unaware of their infection. Over the past decade, the number of people living with HIV has INCREASED. The pace of new infections continues at far too high a level--particularly among certain groups, reports the CDC. New HIV infections run at about 50,000 a year with MSM continuing to bear the greatest burden of HIV infection. An estimated 13,712 people with an AIDS diagnosis died in 2012, and approximately 658,507 people in the United States with an AIDS diagnosis have died overall. The CDC reports that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) of all races and ethnicities remain the population most profoundly affected by HIV.

You won't find these figures in any discussion by those fixated on changing the marriage laws for a very small group of same sex persons who wish to marry.

Numerous articles reveal that same-sex couples in 37 States with legal gay marriage are not rushing to the altar. Plenty of gay couples do not want to marry, and their reasons are as complex -- and personal -- as any decision to wed.

So why is the Supreme Court even considering addressing a behavior that has no overwhelming interest to the vast majority of Americans, is eschewed by the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the LC-MS, the majority of evangelicals, the Mormon Church, and most Black churches (don't equate your sin with our skin). These groups rightly say that elevating sexual orientation to a protected class or same-sex marriage to a fundamental right would impede religious liberty.

Religious organizations, public speakers, and scholars concerned about free speech say that those who do not agree with same-sex marriage have been actively silenced or chilled in speaking their views. Given the importance of the freedom of speech to political and religious minorities, this is especially disturbing, they say. They further argue that not supporting man-woman marriage is not based on animus, nor it is founded on bigotry, hatred, or irrational prejudice. Another name for this is homo-fascism.

The truth is that convictions supporting traditional marriage express truths that religious believers and faith communities have held for centuries about the positive value of man-woman marriage. These beliefs PREDATE any conception of homosexuals as a discrete and insular minority, much less same-sex marriage. The notion that traditional marriage laws exist for the purpose of harming gays and lesbians is empirically false.

Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage firmly believe it would impede and have a disastrous impact on religious liberty and stigmatize them as bigots akin to racists. That stigma would impede their full participation in democratic life, as their beliefs concerning marriage, family, and sexuality are placed beyond the constitutional pale. Because religious people cannot renounce their scriptural beliefs, a finding of animus would consign believers to second-class status as citizens whose doctrines about vital aspects of society are deemed presumptively illegitimate. The misattribution of animus would deprive believers and faith communities of their rights to the free exercise of religion, free speech, and democratic participation. Assaults on religious liberty, already under pressure, would intensify.

In short, a constitutional right to same-sex marriage under any theory would generate tensions with religious freedom and related interests across a wide array of religious, educational, charitable, and cultural fronts. Sooner or later, a priest or pastor expressing a Biblical concern from a pulpit for traditional marriage (and by extension opposing gay marriage) could be arrested, jailed, and fined.

Two cases make the point: A 19-year Marine Corps and Navy veteran chaplain was removed from the promotion list and detached for cause (essentially terminated) for privately expressing support for traditional marriage. An Atlanta Fire Chief authored a book in which he briefly stated his religious view that marriage should only be between one man and woman, for which he was suspended and then terminated despite no evidence of discrimination by him while at work.

So how is that Gay Clark Jennings, President of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church, writes in an open letter to the Supreme Court linking the necessity for gay marriage to the Doctrine of Discovery as if somehow the two are related!

Her entire spiel is based on ad hominem reasoning. Consider this typical paragraph: "In 35 years of ordained ministry, it has been my privilege to know many faithful, committed same-sex couples whose love gave me a deeper understanding of God's love and whose joy in one another testified to the goodness of God's creation. I have also learned through simple, everyday experience that same-sex couples make vital contributions to our civic life. They work hard, raise children, volunteer and pay taxes, just like opposite-sex couples. There is no reason that they should not enjoy the same dignity and legal protections." You can read her full letter here: http://www.religionnews.com/2015/05/05/open-letter-supreme-court-consider-sex-marriage-commentary/

She does not even address the implications for religious liberty, or the rampant homo-fascism that has swept over The Episcopal Church forcing thousands of orthodox Episcopalians to flee to safer spiritual climes, resulting in the slow withering of the Church she plays a leading role in, while it has gone ahead and consecrated gay and lesbian bishops in defiance of the vast majority of Anglicans in the world, singlehandedly tearing apart the fabric of the communion with resolutions and much more.

Carl H. Esbeck, the R.B. Price Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Missouri, recently said, "The Constitution marks a wiser course--that is, leaving the people free to decide the great marriage debate through their state democratic institutions. Allowing all citizens an equal voice in shaping their common destiny is the only way the diverse views of a highly diverse people can be respected on this matter of political, social, and religious importance. Respect for the principle of equal citizenship and equal participation in the democratic process is the only way that the contemporary controversy over same-sex marriage can be resolved without inflicting harm on millions of religious believers and their institutions."

In the end, forcing gay "marriage" on America could provoke hostility to religion and limit free speech and perhaps bring about civil disobedience that could lead to bloodshed and worse.

This story was first published in Forward in Christ magazine http://www.forwardinchrist.org VOL invites its readers to sign up to receive this magazine.

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