Gay Marriage

Here is parts of an article with a link to the full article. My comments on the article are below it.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/06/lgbt_religion.html

June 8, 2009
Last week the Center for American Progress and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s National Religious Leadership Roundtable released two groundbreaking reports analyzing religious and secular advocacy of marriage-equality ballot initiatives in California and Michigan.

The two reports—which examined campaigns in different states four years apart—draw remarkably similar conclusions about the need for partnerships between religious and secular supporters of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender or LGBT people.

Similarities in the report findings include:

· Anti-LGBT ballot initiatives are often rooted in conservative religious rhetoric. Effective responses require faith voices and messages to counteract these claims in order to show religious diversity in support of marriage equality and disprove the notion that conservative religious voices are the sole guardians of morality on these issues.

· Secular-religious partnerships are crucial to the success of legislative campaigns and to the broader goals of social justice and equal rights under the law for LGBT people.

· Advocates should not disregard certain religious communities as impossible to win, nor overlook any “unlikely” allies, be it congregations in the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church, or African-American churches. While some denominations may have official pronouncements against marriage equality and campaign against it, there are almost always members within that community who are open to other views.

· A narrow political campaign frame hinders effective collaboration with religious communities. LGBT faith advocates and supporters must work within their denominations for full support of LGBT rights, including marriage equality and adoption by same-sex couples.

· Media work that seriously considers the language and culture of religious communities is critical in order to quickly rebut inaccurate religious arguments and misleading statements from antiequality forces. Furthermore, the message of LGBT rights should be framed in a mainstream way that connects people to the issue. In addition, non-LGBT organizations, such as civil and human rights and faith groups, should be sought as campaign allies.

· It is important to have both robust on-the-ground organization and an effective media campaign, especially in larger states where much of the battle is fought over the airwaves.

CAP and the Task Force released these findings in a joint press release call last Thursday that featured Rev. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Bishop for New Hampshire. Bishop Robinson stressed that marriage equality is a justice issue and emphasized the importance of faith voices speaking out on behalf of marriage equality. He noted the importance of religious involvement in yesterday’s legislative victory for same-sex marriage in New Hampshire.

Rev. Rebecca Voelkel, author of the California report, agreed. She stated that, “As secular and religious organizers, we all strive for a country whose mores, culture, and laws reflect the dreams of our forebears—life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and genuine justice for all, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning and intersex people and families. Although there yet remains uncertainty and unknowing between us, these shared visions and values provide us with a solid foundation upon which to build strong partnerships.”

Tom Kam, director of the Religion and Values Program at the Arcus Foundation, which funded the California report, commented that, “Collectively, these reports recognize the power of conservative religious voices to utilize their moral authority to influence public debate on LGBT equality. It is time to respond to these voices with similar authority, fully incorporating within the leadership of the LGBT movement and the public debate, the LGBT and allied religious leaders whose lives and voices speak the truth about our civil and moral equality.”

I can easily see how even faithful members of our churches might be persuaded by these LGBT supporters that allowing gay marriage is Constituently mandated. I have personally known such faithful members. It is not! We need to educate those in our circle of influence that legislation cannot make evil good and our Founding Fathers knew this. John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other" (5000 Year Leap by Skousen p.56)

We do have moral authority and we need to stand by it. Those whose religious or moral or personal beliefs are in accordance with the laws of Nature or the laws of the Creator must stand firm in supporting those laws. It is our duty to fight against man’s attempt to legislate evil for good. If we do not we will be held derelict in our duty to stand for truth and righteousness.

Cicero emphasized that “the essence of an evil law cannot be mended through ratification by the legislature or by popular acclaim. Justice can never be expected from laws arbitrarily passed in violation of standards set up under the laws of Nature or the laws of the Creator. Here is his argument:

But if the principles of Justice were founded on the decrees of peoples, the edicts of princes, or the decisions of judges, then Justice would sanction robbery and adultery and forgery of wills, in case these acts were approved by the votes or decrees of the populace. But if so great a power belongs to the decisions and decrees of fools that the laws of Nature can be changed by their votes, then why do they not ordain that what is bad and baneful shall be considered good and salutary? Or, if a law can make Justice Injustice, can it not also make good out of bad? (Ibid., pp.134-35.)”
(The 5,000 Year Leap by Skousen p. 45)


1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil…