As a part of our ongoing series discussing the importance of protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman, Alliance Defense Fund Legal Counsel Dale Schowengerdt guest blogs about the implications redefining marriage would have on our religious freedom.
The effort to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples will have an unprecedented effect on religious freedom. Those who don’t believe that don’t understand the nature of the battle.
Because as odd as it may sound, the campaign to redefine marriage isn’t primarily about marriage. Rather, it’s about the desire of same-sex couples to have their relationships validated; to have them free from criticism, state-generated or otherwise. That’s the key to understanding the fight for marriage. Marriage, to those who would redefine it, is simply a means to an end, not an end in itself.
As long as believers and other people of good will say that marriage can’t be redefined and that homosexual behavior is wrong, they will be subject to persecution. And if efforts to redefine marriage through the law are successful, orthodox Christians will be subject to persecution not witnessed in centuries.
Some may think that’s hyperbole. I wish it were, but the truth is that there are already cases of religious persecution all over the country. Take the recent resignation of Peter Vidmar as chief of mission for the U.S. Olympic team. Vidmar was forced out because he had the temerity to engage in “anti-gay activism” by attending a couple of rallies and making a donation to support California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. That cost him his job.
Many on the left celebrated Vidmar’s resignation as an example of the movement’s growing power, like this boast from the Courage Campaign’s anti-Proposition 8 website: “How far we’ve come on this issue: to create a firestorm and make it clear that someone who supports separate but unequal because of his religious beliefs is not appropriate to represent the United States.”
Other examples abound; here are just a few:
- A New Mexico state court found that a wedding photography company engaged in “sexual-orientation discrimination” when it refused for religious reasons to photograph a same-sex couple’s commitment ceremony, and the court ordered the company to pay over $6,000 to the same-sex couple. It did not matter that there were plenty of other photographers available for the job.
- A Vermont same-sex couple filed a discrimination complaint against a small family-owned-and-operated inn when the owner expressed some reluctance to host the couple’s wedding ceremony because of his religious beliefs about marriage.
- In New Jersey, the state has vigorously prosecuted a Methodist group for not allowing a same-sex couple to use its facilities for civil union ceremony.
- A Virginia municipality’s human-rights commission ordered a video-duplication business to copy two documentaries promoting homosexual behavior, even though the business owner said that producing the material would violate his religious and ethical values.
- Adoption agencies run by Catholic charities in Boston, Washington, D.C., and most recently Illinois have been forced to close rather than place adoptive children with same-sex couples in violation of their religious beliefs.
If advocates for redefining marriage are successful, they won’t stop at marriage. They won’t stop until their opposition is either converted or silenced.
It’s time to redouble our efforts, while we still have the freedom to.
Dale, you went to law school but it seems you didn’t take or pass the class on public accommodation laws as exist in many states.
As usual, your side stretches the truth so far, it’s hard to not call you a liar.
Vidmar’s decision to resign relates to his private employer, nothing whatsoever to do with the legal question of marriage equality.
The Ocean Beach case in New Jersey was about property that the Methodists put into public accommodation, it was not a church matter. They requested a tax exemption for property not being used in religious activity, and when they chose to not comply with the terms of the tax exemption, it was lifted.
Catholic charities was taking public money for their adoption services, and must comply with secular law if they want to get secular grants.
When will your side tell the whole truth?
Gary – your characterization of these scenarios is not accurate.
- The point Dale is making about Vidmar is that because of Vidmar’s stance that marriage should be protected, he was bullied out of his position by those that disagree with him. Dale is absolutely correct in his assertion that this is the goal of some of those that want to completely redefine marriage – to silence any and all that disagree
- Regarding the New Jersey scenario, the Methodists owned that property, and therefore cannot and should not be forced to use it for something that contradicts their sincerely held religious beliefs.
- The Catholic Charities scenario is a sad case not simply because a charity is out of business, but because since the state is forcing them to go against their beliefs and consequently go out of business, children and all those who were served by Catholic Charities are suffering.
Aaron – same tired argument that not many are buying these days, You may think it sad that Catholic Charities voluntarily choose to get out of the adoption business, but many other agencies, providing high quality services in compliance with the law are available and using the funds the Catholics gave up. The suffering you refer to is a myth. Seems like the Catholics are principled only to the point of spending their own money. Had they chosen to not rely on state funds, they could have continued their discriminatory practices. As for the New Jersey issue, it doesn’t matter if it is a secular business or religious organization, both most comply with equal access laws when offering services to the public. It simply does not matter who owns the property.
This is not religious persecution, no matter what you want to call it. You are not reading the facts. Let me repeat:
The state did not force Catholic charities out of business. They chose to leave the business because they made a decision on non-compliance with secular law. In other words, they put a minor dogma ahead of the needs of charity. Our LORD told us: “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath” I ask you: which is more important, who a child’s parents are, or whether the child has parents?
Vidmar chose to resign because he publicly took a stance that was unacceptable to his employer. That’s a huge change from what people like you did 40 years ago, witch hunts against Gay or suspected Gay people who kept their private lives quiet. Ask all the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell victims of the military, and the security agencies before the 90s, if you want to see real persecution.
Great Point Aaron.
I agree with your premise concerning marriage. There is an agenda to discredit same sex marriage whether it is spoken or not. The secular world wants NO religious affiliations at all in society. If not, then they would not be pushing so hard to get God out of society including excluding anything that remotely appears to be of a religious nature. Ex: removing the steal beam cross found at ground zero. What’s the point? The minority in this country does not have the say over the majority.
I find your perspective an experience intriguing. We have had same-sex benefits in Canada, gays and lesbians permitted to serve in our military since 1992, and gay marriage in all provinces for ten years. We remain primarily a Christian country, but not as evangelical and protestant as our southern neighbour.
I have been a bishop in the Orthodox Church for 13 years, and spend my time in pastoral activities as well as my work in medical ethics and research moreso than political activism. God called me to that ministry, and I think it’s the place of the church to teach the Faith, Tradition, and Morality, not the place of the church to try to attack the state for something that in retrospect has caused no crisis. Our charter of rights and freedoms as signed into law by The Queen in 1982 is much stronger in its protections of individual rights and more systematic than your aging constutional structure. We have a Conservative government that visited the question of cancelling gay marriage but the majority of parliament, including many conservatives, voted it down. The rights of religious or even secular commissioners to refuse to officiate at gay marriages are explicitly protected in law, and the entire matter is essentially considered closed except by a small minority. The churches remain healthy and in many areas are growing, the state is stable and doing much better than most in these rough economic seas, and people can speak their mind about gay issues in either direction without fear of serious repercussion unless they promoted acts of hatred and violence. Our government is elected by all the people, not just the evanglicals, that includes millions of LGBT folk, millions from other races and creeds, and millions of agnostics and atheists. It is not very democratic either for a majority to force something on a minority, which we don’t do and find repugnant, nor for a minority to try to dictate what the majority should think either. I am sad to watch your once great democracy in its sad state.
Ultimately the traditional teaching of the church does not imagine it possible to marry people of the same gender, although there is increasing evidence that the early church did something a little different for gay couples trying to be faithful. Greco-Roman societies were less obsessed with sexuality it seems. In either case, I admire your courage to speak your mind and am sad to see that you feel that your rights to do so are in danger. I simply am not interested in saying hateful things about anyone, we used to call schizophrenics demoniacs, remember? Times change as our understanding of Creation increases. Jesus came to take away our sins, not our minds. So I will preach love for everyone as I believe I am called to do, even sinners, of which I am chief. Our Lord Jesus never said anything about gay people in the Gospels, at least not directly, and reading things into passages is always dangerous theologically. Peace to all!
The minister is quoted:
“Our Lord Jesus never said anything about gay people in the Gospels, at least not directly, and reading things into passages is always dangerous theologically.
To which I respond:
Jesus didn’t have to say anything because the Law was already clear as to the morality. He didn’t say anything about bestiality or incest either; to then say that these are synonymous with any other kind of sex because he was silent would be obviously missing the point of His entire ministry.
Perversion has no Rights, Perversion is simply the CHOICE to behave and conduct yourself in a deviant sexual manner contrary to Science, Medicine, Psychology and Nature. When you define any of the same sex relationships they fall under they category of perverse behaviors along with pedophiles and bestiality. Those who practice these behaviors simply choose to ignore the TRUTH, that their behaviors, their acts of will to conduct themselves in ways contrary to normal civilized norms and customs. They may also disagree or choose not to believe the TRUTH, but that never makes it untrue. You can “sugar coat” or paint over it or change the semantics all you want but it never changes the facts about the TRUTH. The culture has attempted to glamorize and glorify “alternative lifestyles”, but the facts still remain that the acts are still perverse and abnormal. Laws require definitions to set standards and to determine if those codes, regulations and measurements are within tolerance to be considered within the boundaries of the standard. Defining Marriage as one man and one woman( as it has always been) is a necessary legal step.The precedent in Law has been set in stone for all ages. There is already a avenue for same sex “marriages”( Civil Unions) and all couples of that persuasion have to do is find a way to ramp up the legal benefits to be the same as regular Marriage. The standards cannot be met by same sex relationships because one of the most important aspects of Marriage is family. Both same sex relationships can never produce offspring. These relationships provide more for a path to extinction than to a survival of the species.The cycle of Life ends with these type of relationships. Live the life you want, but you cannot have it both ways, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Quit trying to tell me that your behavior is okay, when in TRUTH it is perverted and always will be. Perversion has no Rights.
Robert, in the opinion of science, medicine, psychology, and nature, homosexuality is not deviant. Nor does it fall under the category with pedophilia or bestiality, it falls under the category with heterosexuality and bi-sexuality. Homosexuality has not been contrary to civilized norms for nearly 40 years in this country.
Your argument that marriage is about procreation fails in that we do not require couples to have children before entering into marriage. Traditional marriage, historically has been a polygamous system, which is a feature of about 85% of today’s societies.
Your terming homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle is also disingenuous. Gay people live their lives in much the same way as we do, they go to work, vote, have hobbies, fall in love and, I know it’s crazy, even want to get married like we do.
What seems to be forgotten in this debate is that all people are equally created in the divine image, and to imagine that somehow that image is destroyed by conduct is a very dangerous heresy that leads to all kinds of horrendous thoughts. I know a few gay people, we have some in our eparchy who try to be faithful Christians and chaste, God does not hate them. Like all human beings, they fall and sin, but I see no difference really from a biblical perspective on adultery or any other sexual sin except that adultery remains one of the Ten Commandments as something that one must never do. I have read the stats and find it interesting that the incidence of divorce and adultery is significantly higher amongst evangelicals than in any other group of Christians. A neighbour of mine is a former evangelical pastor who once told me over a glass of wine that the hypocrisy of thinking that it is okay to cheat on your wife, a tolerable if unfortunate sin, but give a guy a kiss and tell him that he’s goodlooking will land you in hell. The former president of the evangelical alliance shows this tendency with his dalliance with a male escort. I am not trying to generalize, God forbid! My point is before criticizing the speck in your brother’s eye, consider the log in your own.
As a child growing up in a very rural and wooded area in northern Ontario I frequently observed homosexual behaviour amongst animals. Mallard ducks are particularly noteworthy of this, the drakes have been studied extensively. They have no free will, so are they “choosing” to mate with each other? Horses do it, monkeys, cats, dogs, etc. Ignoring this evidence and suggesting that it is completely unnatural and in defiance of God’s law brings into question whether God is really in charge. For me, the jury is out on the question. I simply uphold the Faith and Tradition in love, and do not think that I should expect that my government should base its legislation purely on one interpretation of the Judeo-Christian bible. That is theocracy, not democracy.
Robert, I never suggested that I would promote perversion, I promote love. Love conquers all, and Truth is a matter of perspective. God is love, and Truth of course, but His love is clearer than His truth most days. I sense rage in you, which is understandable, but remember that unchecked anger is a deadly sin, and damages the soul. One gets much better results with love than hate. The history of the world shows that clearly, and that is undeniable TRUTH.
I’ve sat and watched this issue from the sidelines for a number of years. I was born into the LDS (Mormon) Church and am the eldest of 7 children betwen my parents. Although Mormonism has slightly different beliefs, it is still a Christian religion with far more in common with other Christian denominations than not. Because I grew up in the 1960′s in Salt Lake City, UT, I was never exposed to anything that could have, in any way, shape or form, altered my worldviews on marriage, family or sexuality. It simply didn’t exist.
For the past 8 years I’ve been studying what most would probably call ‘new age’ mumbo jumbo. However, this spiritual science, called Keylontic Science, in my opinion, can complement virtually all religions. One aspect of this Keylontic Science is the incredibly detailed steps that take place between consciousness (thought) and manifestation (matter). There has been a tremendous amount of fallen angelic (dark/evil extra-terrestrial and interdimensional) interference in the DNA of humans over the past 50 million years. This spiritual-scientific paradigm demonstrates in great detail, the energetic architecture upon which all reality is based. Any manifest thing (plant, animal, mineral, human, planet, galaxy, etc.) that is based on a distorted or altered version of this Original Divine ‘Kristic’ Kathara Grid structure is metatronic (meaning anti-christic). The biblical 666 refers to a specific distortion in the Kathara Grid. The Kabbalistic ‘Tree of Life’ is a highly distorted version of this Kathara Grid. The fallen angelic version of Divine Keylontic Science is called Metatronic (anti-christic, finite life) Science.
There is one particular behavioral program that was genetically-engineered into human DNA by groups of very evil, anti-christic ETs. This ‘program’ is called the “Victim-Victimizer Blame Game”. This game is played by virtually EVERYONE on the planet in one form or another. I didn’t make this up and neither did Keylontic Science. It operates on a subconscious level, so unless you are able to pick up the clues, you’re playing the game. It’s very simple; the moment you begin to perceive yourself as a Victim (regardless of cause), if not already present, a Victimizer will show up and vice-versa.
It is this insidious, vile, anti-christic program that pits one person against another, one group against another; one nation against the other.
Both Christians and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgendered people) perceive themselves as victims of persecution and discrimination. It works BOTH ways. One is not inherently ‘evil’, the other inherently ‘good’ and vice-versa. This issue, one among countless others, will never be resolved until all humans recognize the truth and realize what is happening to us as a race. We have been pitted against each other by very highly technologically evolved, very poorly spiritually evolved extraterrestrial and interdimensional beings, who are also expert genetic engineers.
As for my personal opinions on the issue of gay marriage, I believe that one must first at least consider what I’ve written above. Secondly, any law redefining marriage will have no effect on the beliefs or free will choices of Christians. We may have to simply learn to swallow some of our own bitter medicine. The divine gift of Free Will Choice comes with the implied responsibilities of Self-actualization, Self-sovereignty, Self-containment, Self-discipline, Self-love, Spiritual Integrity. If we insist upon labeling and/or blaming external people or things in lieu of accepting responsibility for the direction of our own personal creative energies we WILL reap what we sow.
Originally, they did this to themselves but many of these races interbred with humans, the very tall, human-reptoid hybrid biblical ‘Nephilim’ being one of many, thus introducing this insidious program into human DNA.
If you are searching for truth, start with the book “All That the Prophets Have Spoken” or “By This Name”.
How true that men have itchy ears for some strange new doctrine while rejecting the word of truth that came to earth accompanied by miracles never before or after as seen in the life of Christ. The Bible is a closed book to the uncircumcised soul, and a source of wisdom to the truly truth-seeking heart. As for Jesus not commenting on homosexuality–not so. He spoke of three different kinds of eunuchs(those without natural desire toward the opposite sex)1) those born that way 2) those made that way by other men(or women)and 3) those willing to become that way for the sake of the gospel–meaning those who denied their sexual urges for a higher call in life. This is one of the precepts behind the reason that priests and nuns do not marry.