culture

Will The Church Fight or Surrender to Same-sex Marriage?

By Paul Strand
Washington Sr. Correspondent

CBN.com – ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Most states already have laws against same-sex marriage, but judges in Massachusetts and California have ruled such laws are unconstitutional, and judges in many other states may be ready to do the same thing. This is why the church may be waking up to what it sees as one of the most sacred institutions on earth -- holy matrimony. Americans in overwhelming numbers are beginning to say "no" to gay marriage.

Homosexual marriage advocates were cheering after a San Francisco judge declared a California law banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. But supporters of the traditional family say that will just spur them on to greater effort in their battle to protect by any means the model of one-man, one-woman marriage.

Campaign for Children and Families spokesperson Randy Thomasson said, "No judge has the right to create gay marriage out of thin air and say it's the law."

Rallies in places as diverse as California and Maryland are aimed at getting religious believers out of their pews and into this battle.

Organizers at this rally say some 500 churches across Maryland have pledged to become involved. They say it will take the strength and numbers of those believers to counter the powerful gay rights lobby, which now thinks it is unstoppable.

Alan Sears, co-author of "The Homosexual Agenda," commented, "They do not believe that people of faith, orthodox Jews, evangelical Christians, conservative Catholics and others, who care about marriage and this subject, will really stay in the game long enough to win."

Guy Carey is a pastor at Immanuel's Church in Silver Spring, Maryland and emceed this rally. He remarked, "We're beginning to understand that the church has a moral and biblical responsibility to speak out on moral issues."

CBN News followed Carey around, to see how leaders actually go about organizing such events. It started out with prayer and fellowship at a Christian's home near the statehouse in Annapolis. Then the organizers met with the various speakers who would work at getting the crowd involved. Finally, they attacked the microphone before several hundred believers braving the cold wind whipping in off nearby Chesapeake Bay.

It does appear that the conservative citizens who identify moral values as their number one concern are waking up over this issue. They have been turning out in droves to vote for just about any ballot measure that preserves traditional marriage.

In fact, in states where there have been such votes, the average is 71 percent against gay marriage.

Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), remarked, "Those who've been advocating same-sex marriage really took a real bump in the road for their cause back in the elections in November, where they lost in even blue states."

And the battle is just getting started. As it stands now, 17 states already have some sort of ban on homosexual marriage in their constitutions, 13 of those having just been voted on last year.

This year, 20 more states are taking action that could eventually lead to an amendment. They are spread all across the country, not just conservative states, but ones considered liberal. If all pass, that should add real momentum to the campaign for a federal constitutional amendment.

Because, if 37 pass state amendments, they would probably vote for a federal version, and that is just one shy of what is needed. First up to bat this year: Kansas, with a vote on April 5th.

Now, many critics of these votes say it is too drastic for states to amend their constitutions when simple state laws would do. But legal experts like Kansas Attorney General Phil Kline say voters are being forced to take drastic action, because of activist judges who are tossing out state laws against gay marriage.

Kline said, "...and mandating an action that in no way is mandated by our constitution, nor has been. It's not been a part of this country for over 200 years of its existence."

Sears stated, "Every time the people have been allowed to decide, by overwhelming margins, they've said, ' We reaffirm the plan that God laid out for marriage in Genesis. And we don't want any of these rewrites, and we don't want activist judges forcing us to take these changes.'"

Many homosexuals and their allies look at all these states voting to ban gay marriage and see it as proof of bigotry and homophobia on the part of many Americans.

Baltimore gay activist Mike said, "I was planning a trip to Ohio later this year, and I said 'No way. I'm not going to support a state economically that discriminates against my gay brothers and sisters.'"

Steve Kay of suburban Annapolis has three gay children. He claims, "They're basically preaching hatred against gays, religious hatred against gays."

Another gay activist from Takoma Park, Maryland, remarked, "…I have faith that people of faith will recognize the hijacking of their religion by extremists and zealots."

Sears commented, "It's amazing how many people of faith have bought into aspects of the homosexual agenda. They really think it's hate speech to share the love of Christ."

But many opponents of gay marriage say this is not about being anti-homosexual at all – it is about preserving an important building block of civilization.

Rev. Richard Bowers, Defend Maryland Marriage chairman, remarked, "We were told to populate this world, multiply and be fruitful. And those unions do not have that capability, even on their best day."

Sears said, "Anything that lowers the value of marriage, that cheapens the value of marriage, that makes marriage less important in our culture, has a negative impact culture- and society-wide."

Delegate Herb McMillan (R-Annapolis) stated, "When anyone can be married to anyone else, no one's really married at all. And I think same-sex marriage doesn't expand the institution of marriage; it serves to dissolve it."

One thing a lot of ordinary folks say is, 'What does this issue have to do with me? What do I care if homosexuals get married?' But those who are leaders of the pro-marriage movement say it may have a lot to do with you in the future, and your faith.

Pastor Carey added, "The platform from which this issue of same-sex marriage is being approached is to identify homosexual marriage as a civil right. If homosexuality is identified as a civil right, that then brings them under the protection of a specialty group, and that when we speak against homosexual behavior as a sin, which our scriptures mandate that we do, then we can be accused of hate speech."

Reverend Paul Schenck has been involved in hundreds of street protests for pro-life and pro-family causes. He said, "The implications are dire, because you have the perception of a hate crime."

He said that in Europe recently, ”…a pastor spent 10 days in jail because he preached on the subject of homosexuality from a biblical point of view, and was accused of making disparaging remarks about homosexuals."

Pastor Carey stated, "There've actually been people in this nation arrested for speaking against homosexuality on the basis of the scriptures, as hate speech. So it's a major issue, and it can be a real source of future persecution."

So will the church rise up to protect itself? To protect traditional marriage? To say no to activist judges making up their own laws?

Well, in the case of Maryland, only hundreds showed up at this Defend Marriage rally, when organizers were hoping for many tens of thousands. They had warned if legislators do not see multitudes protesting outside the statehouse, most would not do anything to defend one-man, one-woman marriage.

And sure enough, behind closed doors just a few feet away, Democrat leaders here in Annapolis were pressing their troops into line and holding back all efforts to bring about a marriage amendment to Maryland's constitution -- at least for now.

Pro-marriage leaders say it is a lesson to citizens in other states worried about marriage, but not enough to get up and do something about it.

Sears said, "Will we step up to the mat? Will we fight? Or will we simply surrender, and give this away as we've given away so much other territory?"

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