Turek: Same-sex marriage hurts everyone
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman, November 17, 2009
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – “I hate this topic, because it is too often misunderstood,” began Frank Turek in his seminar, “Correct, Not Politically Correct: How Same-Sex Marriage Hurts Everyone,” presented Friday at the 2009 National Conference on Christian Apologetics.
Turek’s presentation was based on his book Correct, Not Politically Correct: How Same-Sex Marriage Hurts Everyone. For more information visit crossexamined.org.
CrossExamined.org is a non-profit ministry started in 2002 that conducts I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist seminars on college campuses, churches and high schools. Led by Turek and other Christian apologists, CrossExamined.org exists to address the problem that three out of four Christian youth leave the faith while in college, many because they are intellectually skeptical.
“There are so many objections and misunderstandings on this topic, that as soon as you open your mouth, you are called bigot or homophobe,” he said.
“What should our attitude be about homosexuality? Correct not politically correct,” he said. “No one wants to speak the truth about this.”
Another point about this topic, he said: “Do not think we should be unloving – exhibit love, not false compassion.”
Turek is founder and president of CrossExamined.org and its primary presenter. He has a master’s degree from George Washington University and a doctorate in apologetics from Southern Evangelical Seminary.
He was one of many presenters at the two-day conference “Apologetics and the local Church,” held Nov. 13-14 at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C., and sponsored by Southern Evangelical Seminary.
“You should not be for homosexuality if you are a rational reasonable person,” he said. “It is against the basic design of the human body. … Don’t think that it is loving to lead people to destruction.”
He spoke of a childhood friend who died of AIDS at 36.
When he announced that he was a homosexual, his parents celebrated it, but “I think that was unloving. What they failed to do was separate their son from the behavior of their son,” he said. “If you don’t separate behavior from people then you have to love everything they do.”
Turek said that the debate over same-sex marriage is not about equality. It is not about denying homosexuals the right to commit to each other. It is not about tolerance or intolerance, or being born a certain way. It’s not about race or civil rights or even about religion.
For the homosexual, it is not even about marriage. “How do we know? Because in countries with same-sex marriage 96 percent don’t get married” when they have the opportunity, he said.
He read a quote from homosexual activist Andrew Sullivan to prove his point: “If nothing else were done at all and gay marriage were legalized, 90 percent of the political work necessary to achieve gay and lesbian equality will have been achieved. It’s ultimately the only reform that matters.”
Turek held up his Bible, and said “If one issue can stop this book right in its tracks, it is same-sex marriage.”
He turned his attention to the federal hate crimes law, recently signed into law by President Barack Obama. “All crimes are hate crimes. Do you know any love crimes? As soon as the hate crimes bill becomes law, then this book [the Bible] becomes hate speech,” he said.
Turek said the government should endorse natural marriage because it “is a social institution that provides society with the very foundation of civilization – the procreating family unit.”
“Natural marriage is our national immune system,” he said, “When our marriages are healthy, our country is healthy.” Related Stories
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He then listed some facts about natural marriage. It:
- Lengthens life spans of men and women.
- Civilizes men and focuses them on productive pursuits.
- Protects women and mothers.
- Lowers welfare costs to society.
And children from natural marriages are:
- Seven times less likely to live in poverty.
- Six times less likely to commit suicide.
- Less than half as likely to commit crime.
- Healthier physically and emotionally when they reach adulthood.
Reflecting on why government shouldn’t endorse same-sex marriage, Turek asked if every child deserves a mother and a father?
“You can’t believe in both,” he said, that every child deserves a mother and father and approve of same-sex marriage. “Same-sex couples always deny their children a mother or father.”
He said that children from fatherless homes are:
- Seven times more likely to live in poverty.
- Six times more likely to commit suicide.
- More than twice as likely to commit crime.
Turek then said that children from fatherless homes account for:
- 60 percent of America’s rapists.
- 63 percent of America’s youth suicides.
- 70 percent of American’s long-term prison inmates.
- 71 percent of America’s teenage pregnancies.
- 71 percent of America’s high school drop outs.
- 72 percent of American’s adolescent murderers.
Turek also addressed some objections and arguments by homosexual activists, and some responses.
As far as the born-that-way argument, his first questions are: “How were you born this way? Because homosexuals do not reproduce, so how is this passed on?”
He mentioned the “design argument” that God made me this way. “It’s not clear if there is a genetic component to same-sex attraction,” he said. “It is unclear if you were born with these desires, but God did give you the body you have, so why are you choosing to follow desires, but not choosing to follow the body given to you by God? If you don’t follow the design of your body, it could be fatal.”
“We are all born with a nature to behave badly,” he said. “It is easy to be bad. It is hard to be good. … We all have to restrain ourselves to have civilization.”