By The Associated Press
A coalition of religious organizations has come together to urge a federal appeals court to uphold same-sex marriage bans in Utah and Oklahoma, saying unions between a man and woman are best for children, families and society.
The argument was made in a 42-page brief filed Monday afternoon to a Denver-based court reviewing cases that could reverse gay-marriage bans in Utah and Oklahoma.
Lawyers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops wrote the brief, which was signed by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod.
“Our respective religious doctrines hold that marriage between a man and a woman is sanctioned by God as the right and best setting for bearing and raising children,” it says. “We believe that children, families, society, and our nation thrive best when husband-wife marriage is upheld and strengthened as a cherished, primary social institution.”
The coalition struck back at the notion that opposing gay marriage makes one anti-gay, irrational or bigoted.
“The accusation is false and offensive,” it says. “It is intended to suppress rational dialogue and democratic conversation, to win by insult and intimidation rather than by reason, experience, and fact.”
3 Comments. Leave new
As sad as it maybe, what may be “best” for all parties concerned will not sway the court. The court will make it’s decision on whether or not the law as is, violates the rights of the individuals filing the suit. Gay (unGodly marriage) is here to stay. The horror of the church not only condoning but endorsing it will be dealt with at The Judgement. The wrath of God will not be denied. As CS Lewis wrote in XXIII of the Screwtape Letters; ‘The documents say what they say and cannot be added to;’. Those who despise The Word of God will reap what they have sown. The scripture cannot be broken.
Some doctrinally based churches have yet to realize that the values of the Enlightenment trump the staid man-made doctrines of any church. These church leaders need to reread the Declaration of Independence where the right to the “pursuit of happiness” and other basic rights are the fruit of the Enlightenment.
Elder Lee Lybarger
Delaware, OH
I fundamentally disagree with the Declaration of Independence on this point. Human beings do NOT have an unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness.
For instance, suppose that I was unhappy with my wife (which I am not, but for the purpose of this argument, let’s suppose that I am) and wanted to marry another woman, who was unhappily married to another man and wished to divorce him in order to marry me. (C.S. Lewis used a similar example in his essay, “We Have No ‘Right to Happiness’”; see his God in the Dock, pp. 317-322.) The Enlightenment doctrine of the pursuit of happiness would say that we had an unalienable right to divorce our lawfully-wedded spouses and to marry each other, as we believed that doing so would make us happy. However, the Lord Jesus said, “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.” (Lk. 16.18)
Or suppose that viewing pictures of naked women on the internet made me happy. Again, the Enlightenment doctrine of the pursuit of happiness would say that I had an unalienable right to do so. But again, the Lord Jesus said, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Mt. 5.28) And as the author of Hebrews wrote, “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” (Heb. 13.4)
So then, the God-given doctrines of the Scriptures trump the man-made doctrines of the Enlightenment. After all, “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (II Tim. 3.16); the same is not true of the Declaration of Independence.
Deacon Loren Golden
Overland Park, KS