Fr Joseph EsperGiven that the United States Supreme Court will hand down its ruling on same-sex marriage in a few weeks, it is an especially appropriate time to pray that the Court will be open to the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Almost two months ago a legal team representing several Christian and liberty-focused organizations warned the Court that to mandate same-sex marriage would be to invite divine judgment upon our country: “Should the Court require the states and the people to ‘ritualize’ sodomite behavior by government issuance of a state marriage license, it could bring God’s judgment on the nation. Holy Scripture attests that homosexual behavior and other sexual perversions violate the law of the land, and when the land is ‘defiled,’ the people have been cast out of their homes” (cf. Leviticus 18:22- 30, 2 Peter 2:6-10).
The legal brief further argues, “Whatever justification any judge may believe compels a state to define marriage to include same-sex couples, it is not found in the Constitution, nor is it based in any constitutional principles. For any judge to require a state to define marriage to include same-sex couples is an usurpation of authority that he does not have under the laws of man or God, and it is thus illegal.” Moreover, “In reaching its decision, this Court should reaffirm that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment protects religious dissenters who disagree with state-recognized same-sex marriage and to reaffirm the importance of free debate and free inquiry in this democratic republic.”
There are those who insist that the way our society defines marriage cannot constitutionally be based on a “divinely-revealed moral foundation,” but only “according to the secular reasons of men.” However, the brief states, “The nation was not so founded. The Declaration of Independence, the nation’s charter, grounded our nation on the biblical ‘Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,’ embracing the principle that all men ‘are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,’ putting its case for liberty before ‘the Supreme Judge of the world,’ and acting ‘in firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.’”
Rejecting the traditional understanding of marriage would require the “entire revision” of every family law in the country, closure of many adoption agencies, and perhaps even government persecution of those who preach biblical texts against homosexuality. Furthermore, there would be no logical restrictions on any persons, or groups of persons, marrying. The brief notes, “The current accepted vernacular is said to be ‘lgbttqqiiaa+,’ standing for ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, queer, questioning, intersex, intergender, asexual, ally and beyond.’ Indeed, some consider pedophilia to be a legitimate sexual orientation, returning us to the pagan pederasty of ancient Greece.” According to Justice Marvin Baxter of the California Supreme Court, “Who can say that, in 10, 15, or 20 years, an activist court might not rely on the majority’s analysis [should the U.S. Supreme Court discover a ‘right’ to same-sex marriage] to conclude, on the basis of a perceived evolution in community values, that the laws prohibiting polygamous and incestuous marriage were no longer constitutionally justified?”
One day God will ask us what we were doing while this issue was being debated and decided. Woe to us if we’re unable to answer that we were offering prayers and sacrifices that the Supreme Court decided to uphold the traditional meaning of marriage, thereby sparing our land from divine judgment.
William Borst
Donald Wittmer
Humble Author
Fr Charles Irvin
Thomas Addis
I would think that the 55 million abortions since 1973 would call down God’s wrath, regardless of whether “gay marriage” gets sanctioned by the Supreme Court.