More marriage lunacy!

More twisted fairy tales from our good friends at Protect Marriage.



In this section learn more about the legal and legislative issues surrounding the ProtectMarriage.com Amendment, review frequently asked questions (FAQs) and read articles related to protecting marriage.

Why It’s Needed

1. Children need the love of both a father and a mother.

Which, of course, means that anything other than the love of both a mother and a father is full blown torturing the child. We're talking the equivalent of putting the tyke into a room with Sayid Jarrah from Lost and telling Sayid to use "any means necessary" here. Clearly no child raised with out the love of both a mother and a father (and I'm talking about a female parent and a male parent here) has been anything but a traumatized, homicidal drain on our society.

The body of research-proof is overwhelming and consistent. (Read Glenn Stanton’s writings on the Focus on the Family Web site for more information.)

By all means consult a conservative Christian corporation for all of your research! That's a great idea! Oh....wait a minute...it's not.

2. Traditional marriage deserves protection because of its contributions to societal well-being. The historic purpose for governmental recognition of marriage has been about children and society, not the relationship of two adults. (For more information, consult the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy.)

Yep, no need to give good, loving, caring, hardworking adults those governmental protections! Why would we do a silly thing like that?!?

3. Expanding the definition of marriage by including homosexual relationships adds to the continued disregard for marriage’s ultimate purpose.

No. It would continue to disregard what marriage means to you and your religion. There's a difference! The really neat part is that we have religious freedom in the USA so we don't have to pay attention to what a particular religion thinks about a secular, legal condition. And that protection is what keeps the government from stomping on your religion!

Where it has been legalized, same-sex marriage decreases the total number of marriages while increasing illegitimacy. Nine European nations have had same-sex marriage since the early 90s—and just 2 percent of same-sex couples in these countries ever bother to marry, while there has been a 46 percent increase in out-of-wedlock births. (Read more)

Okay, I'm just confused. If the argument is that gay couples won't get married anyway, then that's an argument to go ahead and save your money on the campaign. If they aren't going to take advantage of getting married after all, there's no reason to try to stop them from doing so. Really, get your arguments straight here!

4. Expanding the definition of marriage begs the question: Why stop at same-sex couples? What legal basis would remain to limit the number of partners in marriage?

Common sense comes to mind.

5. Legalizing same-sex marriage necessarily mandates changes to all California public-school curriculum. Children will be subjected to a mandatory acceptance of homosexuality and all of its practices. Public school curriculum will actively discriminate against the values of the majority of its community’s families.

Schools teaching tolerance is a good thing. Really! It is!

6. Religious freedom has been the cornerstone of success for the United States of America. It is naïve to believe that when acceptance of same-sex marriage is legislatively or judicially forced upon citizens via employment law, education, or other government mandates, rights of religious liberty won’t decrease.

I hope you're not saying that you think that you have the right to descriminate against others. We were having such a good conversation up until this point! * sigh *

Did you know…?

…that just eight years ago, California voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 22, by 61.4% of the vote, to keep marriage only between a man and a woman.


You don't say!

So why do we now need to amend the state constitution?

Because you just found out that it supersedes statewide propositions!

On May 15, the California Supreme Court ruled that the statutory changes made by Propositoin 22 were invalid. The only way to overturn this is decision is with a Constitutional Amendment. See our news release on this decision. (Read the decision.) The Court declared a right to “same-sex marriage” in direct opposition to the definition of marriage as only between a man and a woman, established by Proposition 22.

Not to point out the obvious here, but usually when a court strikes down a law, it does so in direct opposition to that law. I'm just saying.

In the majority decision authored by Chief Justice Ronald George, he wrote “an individual’s sexual orientation — like a person’s race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights.”

Yay for equality!

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Marvin Baxter stated, “…marriage is, as it always has been, the right of a woman and an unrelated man to marry each other.” Baxter added “…there is no deeply rooted tradition of same-sex marriage, in the nation or in this state.”

True!

Prop 22 added a regular statute to the California Family Code (not the state constitution) to keep marriage between a man and a woman and prevent the state Legislature from redefining marriage without a vote of the people. Since then however, politicians and judges have chipped away at Prop 22 and ignored the will of the voters. For example:

• In 2004, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom thumbed his nose at California voters by issuing marriage licenses to thousands of homosexual couples in open defiance of Proposition 22. Ultimately, the courts declared those so-called “marriages” to be invalid, but left the door open to a future constitutional challenge against traditional marriage.

An elected representative did what he felt was the right thing?!? Now I've seen it all!


• Additionally, the courts have undermined Proposition 22 and marriage by upholding an act of the Legislature that gave homosexual “domestic partners” the full legal status of married spouses. A San Francisco judge ruled that Proposition 22, a regular statute, violates the California Constitution and ordered the licensing of same-sex “marriages.” On May 15, 2008, the California Supreme Court overruled Proposition 22 and declared that homosexuals have a constitutional right to marry.

Wow...a court overturned an unconstitutional law. Who do they think they are? A judge or something?!?



Seriously, this one is really simple. There are people who love and care for each other who just happen to be the same gender. The purpose of life is happiness: we should just let them be happy with each other. If allowing them to get married helps them on the universal path to their own happiness, it should be our pleasure to open that door for them.

The greatest damage religion can do is to make good people do bad things. These couples are not encroaching on anyone else's life by asking to get married. Standing in the way of their happiness is bad.

Litigation for Mr. Christ

Our good friends over at the Alliance Defense Fund brought us this gem a few months back.



Darkest before the dawn
Inside the Issues with Alan Sears

March 25, 2008

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said."
- Matthew 28:1-6a

My family watched "The Passion of the Christ" this weekend. Though I have seen the movie on several occasions, I am overwhelmed each time I see its vivid portrayal of the Gospel. It also strikes me that the film's conclusion is not a Hollywood ending... the scars do not disappear, the impact of the lashes upon Christ's back is not imagined. But praise to God, it is a holy ending, because death is swallowed up in victory and the gift of eternal life is extended to all who believe and accept our Savior as Lord.

Hallelujah!

Easter weekend truly encompasses all of human emotion.

Really? Why would that be? Please give some evidence

Our sins and Christ's death weigh so heavily on Friday, as we remember His suffering and our responsibility. It gives us perhaps a brief glimpse of what life without hope looks like, which is what many of Jesus' disciples and followers surely experienced that long-ago Friday and Saturday.

Sounds like a bummer, especially for a fairy tale.

Sunday morning brings the dawn...and life...and hope. A hope that is only possible through a knowledge of our Savior's death and resurrection.

Or possible via love and happiness! I prefer that view, but if you really want guilt and suffering, you have my sympathy on that odd choice.

This new dawn comes after the darkest moment, and its brilliance is nearly blinding.

Perhaps explaining why it doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny.

America was founded as a nation that cherished and protected religious freedom.

Yay! A true statement!

Freedom that has provided the opportunity for so many to hear this message of hope and to be forever changed by it. Easter weekend is a reminder of what God has done, but it also reminds me of what He has called this ministry to do.

Maintain our freedoms! Especially our religious freedoms, which includes the freedom to not be religious at all.

The Alliance Defense Fund is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation. In other words, we exist to protect your right to share the message of Christ with those who still live without hope. By God's grace, we are winning victories from coast to coast, and reclaiming rights that had previously been lost.

And those victories are what exactly?

Through your continued and prayerful support, we will continue to fight these legal battles, knowing that together, on our knees, we can win. It may be darkest before the dawn, but by God's grace...dawn does come.

I wish you luck, provided that you’re not stomping on other people’s rights and beliefs such as when you want to have prayer in schools, put “In God We Trust” on our money, and pass laws saying that atheists, because they are atheists, aren’t competent to sit on juries, or murder people on the theory that the guy only you can hear has told you to.

You see, it’s those little setbacks in your doctrine that leaves us a tad worried about you!

California dreamin'

On June 16th, California started issuing marriage licenses to same sex couples in accordance with the May 15th State Supreme Court decision on the matter. Protect Marriage.com immediately chimes in with a campaign against people who are doing nothing to them whatsoever.


ProtectMarriage calls for measured response to licensing of same-sex marriages.

Starting Monday at 5:01 pm, several California counties began issuing same-sex “marriage” certificates.

Yay for fairness and equality! Woot!

This follows the order of the four Supreme Court judges striking down Proposition 22, which the voters overwhelming approved just a few years ago to reaffirm marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Yep, judges are odd that way about states passing laws that contradict both the rest of the laws and common sense.

Yet, this debate is not over.

Sadly, this is true.

Thankfully, the Protection of Marriage Amendment will appear on this November’s ballot.

Oh joy, another round of legislating morality.

The campaign of the next few months will be our opportunity to remind Californians why the unique role of traditional marriage in society is worth protecting.

The major media would love to see us engage in fierce protests and hostile demonstrations of outrage against the licensing of same-sex “marriages”.

They love it when you make fools of yourselves. It sells papers.

Of course they will take any opportunity they can find to portray us as unreasonable.

That's pretty easy when you're being this unreasonable.

We must not fall into this trap.

Too late!

So let us keep in mind: Our battle is not against the same-sex couples who are pursuing the opportunity to “marry”

It's against their evil twin, Skippy?!? Really, the level of doublethink required to actually believe this would make Winston Smith turn around and say "You gotta be kidding me!"

granted them by the activist judges on the California Supreme Court.

And fairness, equality, and common sense.

Our battle is against the flawed reasoning of the court’s decision; our purpose is to reaffirm the traditional definition of marriage. Marriage is at the core of family security and is an essential element in our society. The Supreme Court has effectively rendered marriage meaningless at a time when we should be taking steps to strengthen families.

Agreed! Lets strengthen families by allowing more loving, caring, committed couples to enjoy the legal protections granted by our society to them in exchange for the expectations that we have on them!

Fortunately, the Protection of Marriage Amendment will give voters the final say in this debate.

Until overturned again by the courts.

We are confident that voters will reaffirm the traditional definition of marriage, just as they overwhelmingly did in 2000, and overturn the court’s flawed decision.

So the merry-go-round will continue to turn!

To succeed, however, we must raise the funds needed to launch an organized grassroots campaign and purchase statewide TV and radio advertisements urging a “yes” vote on the Marriage Amendment. Please mail a check or donate online today to support our campaign for marriage.

It costs a lot of money to properly demonstrate our bigotism and deny those rights to law abiding citizens, you know!

P.S. Please help us reach even more supporters like you… please forward this email to at least 5 friends or family members who can join this important battle to save traditional marriage. Thank you.

And we don't stop at bigoted efforts - we create chain letters as well!

The US has been warned! Gasp!

Our good friend, Jason Lovelace over at Rapture Ready, has a dire warning for all of us in the United States. It seems the protecting hand of God is about to be removed! Gasp!

A Warning to the United States of America

* Cue dramatic music *

Dun, dun….dun!!!!

Key Scripture:

Judges 2.16-17 – Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.

So you’re saying that judges are whores who make judgments based on the teachings of the Wrong Gods. Got it.

The United States has long been a bastion of Christian ideals, religious freedom, and liberty.

As well as Jewish ideals, Muslim ideals, Buddist ideals, atheist ideals, and so on.

Everywhere U.S. Military Personnel have gone, fought, bled, and died, freedom has come on their heels, including the freedom to worship as one chooses.

Perhaps not exactly true all of the time, but it’s generally been the goal.

Unfortunately in these days of post-modernistic personal subjectivity, anything Christian has become more and more ridiculed, more and more marginalized, and seen more and more of Christian Freedoms curtailed n the name of Separation of Church and State.

Really? Where are the laws being passed against Christians, say making a Christian not competent to sit on a jury because of his beliefs? Or proclaiming Christians as heretics and thus torturing them all to death and taking their stuff? Or the SWAT teams stopping people from going to their church and preventing them from praying at gunpoint?

Could the USA be in God’s crosshairs for judgment?

No.

As Israel was judged, time and time again by God for her many trespasses, could God be warning the USA that such is coming to her?

Again, no.

The USA: Founded on Religious Freedom…

Like it or not, believe it or not, nor view it as really true, the United States of America was founded as a place where the worship of God was to be free.

Yes!

The second permanent colony in the USA was established specifically for the purpose of allowing the Puritans to worship God without the interference of the British Crown. In every subsequent colony, religious freedom, the freedom to worship God as one chose, was established. The freedom to worship God is also an inherent and unalienable right of all Americans, as written in the Declaration of Independence and established n the Constitution of the United States of America in 1789.

The first amendment was added in 1791, actually.

In the first two centuries of the United States’ existence as a nation, God was freely prayed to, Jesus Christ freely spoken of, the Bible freely taught, and worship freely allowed in the US Public forum.

Same as today!

Anywhere and everywhere one could travel in the USA, God – though not always followed nor obeyed, was, at the very least, respected.

And you have the right to respect your myths as much as you like. I don’t see the problem here.

Even early TV Shows, movies, and literature, even if God wasn’t mentioned directly, nor given the proper obedience, He was respected for being God, even in such characters as Otis the town drunk of Mayberry from the Andy Griffith Show.

And if a TV writer wants to do that, he is perfectly free to do so. Also, and stay with me here because it’s important to understand this, if a TV writer does not want to do that he is also perfectly free to do so.

You see, that’s what freedom is. It’s the freedom to do stuff.

They Went a Whoring After Other gods…

A question: Is the USA still a Christian Nation?

I hope not. It never was, as per the founding fathers and the US Congress and it never has been since.

Is Christianity and Christian Values, and Jesus Christ, still the primary driving force in US Culture today?

Where they are contrary to freedom and democracy, I sure hope they aren’t.

Looking at American Mainstream Media, one can soon and easily see that the USA is no longer the home to Christian Values that she once was.

Yay!

Today, US post-modern culture continually mocks and marginalizes values that fly in the face of what is fun, desired, and looked upon as civilized.

Damning people to hell, torture, religious wars, and so on.

Fifty years ago, a woman who was found to be with child by someone she was not married to, was viewed as one with clouded morals at the very least. In these days, single mothers are the new heroines, supported and upheld as examples of undying courage, unparalleled strength, and models to others.

So we’re now supporting and helping these women instead of vilifying them? I heartily approve!

Single motherhood is just one symptom of a culture that has made sex and sexual desire one of its gods.

Or perhaps it’s that whole thing of perpetuating the species.

Another example is abortion on demand. In ancient Canaan, the god Molech required the adherent to sacrifice his or her (or their) firstborn child on the altar. In today’s world, more and more expectant mothers are sacrificing their unborn children on the altar of sexual freedom, convenience, and self.

Notice the difference between being born and not being born. That’s a significant difference.

More and more of the USA’s workforce and working-age population are sacrificing their values, their consciences, and their families on the altar of big money, corporate power, and/or financial success.

No. They’re sacrificing your values, your conscience, and your view of what they should have for a family.

It is easy to see that the USA is now a country where every other god under the sun is given privilege and place. Just as Ancient Israel under the judges, and later, the kings, which turned away from God, the USA has also turned away from the God of her forefathers.

The USA is a country where every god is given a place. We’re working on giving those who have no god a place as well. That’s what freedom actually means. It does not mean that your religion should have a special place of privledge.

Freedom To Worship or Freedom From Religion?

In 1962, the United States Supreme Court, in the landmark case Murray v. Curlett, made the decision to remove administration-sponsored prayer from Public School.

Yay for common sense, rational thinking, and helping religions stay clear of being dominated by the federal government!

Since that time, Jesus Christ and the freedom to worship his name have taken a long and hard slide downward.

This claim is true. Of course, Mr. Christ was elevated far above where he should’ve been, but there’s no argument that he’s dropped from that pinnacle.

Where even into the late 1950s and even into the `60s, God was at the very least respected in US society at large, the long slide that leads us to these post-modern 21^st century years now sees anything about God, any mention of Jesus Christ, and any quote from the bible ridiculed, mocked, and marginalized to the point that church by and large has become more of a social club than a soul-saving station.

I don’t see the problem there at all.

This is a fact that is most glaringly seen in mainstream media outlets. Hollywood rarely – if ever – presents the viewing public with anything that remotely uplifts the name of Jesus Christ.

If the people are clearly showing that the idea of your myth laying a guilt trip on them does not help, then perhaps you should listen.

Quite often in modern motion picture production, the villain is some crazed maniac who happens to claim being saved and quotes Scripture verbatim.

There’s a reason that this image is so believable. It’s because crazed maniacs show up every day quoting scripture.

In television, Biblical ideals – once revered and respected — are now mocked, decried as ancient and unnecessary,

True. We’ve figured out more about the world than ancient goat herders knew.

with only the old, the feeble, the mentally challenged, or the ignorant being portrayed as believing in such.

False. There are plenty of people who are young, not feeble, not mentally challenged, or not ignorant who are religious believers on TV. A brief jaunt through the channels, even if we don’t count the religious channels or specifically religious shows, will demonstrate this clearly.

More and more in radio and modern music, every kind of filth and sin is glorified,

There’s an odd story on this. Watch an episode of arguably the best demonstrator of this premise, the Jerry Springer Show and something odd shows up in every single episode. All those people who cheat on their spouses have sex with their dogs, deal drugs to their children’s friends, and so on are constantly hammered by Jerry’s audience.

If you want to know what’s bad to do, listen to the idiots on stage and watch the reaction of the crowd. They know that cheating is bad and they vilify the cheater. They know that dealing drugs is bad and they vilify the drug dealer. About the only thing they really get wrong is when they cheer the fights. That’s a problem across our society that probably should be addressed – our sanctioning of violence instead of questioning it.

while God is mocked, moral values defamed, and Christian values torn to shreds and cast out.

This would not be a problem if your God taught things worth learning, if your morals didn’t include killing and torturing people and Christian values didn’t include inciting hatred toward non believers.

Where homosexuality was once dealt with as a mental illness, it is now accepted even in many mainstream US Churches.

Good for them! It isn’t an illness and we shouldn’t vilify people for it.

Sex outside of marriage, once decried as totally sinful and immoral by the Church, now has seen some denominations declare that no matter what is done to teach them otherwise, teens cannot control themselves and have given allowances for sexual activity aside from marriage (mainstream media long ago cast aside sexual restraint and sexual purity as something unable to be accomplished [with the former] and only for spinsters and prudes out-of-touch with reality [for the latter]).

Good! Punishing people for violating rules that make no sense is…follow me on this one…a bad thing. It harms people without reason and tears apart families for no benefit. I know this is a difficult concept to grasp, so take it slow and sound it out: It is not a good thing to punish people who are not doing anything to hurt anyone else.

God has slowly been replaced by something else, and that something else is bringing forth wretched fruit.

Says you. Rational people disagree.

God is Still a Judge!!!

Who fails to show up to every court we look for him in. It’s annoying. If he wasn’t God, we’d have fired him a long time ago for failure to show up to work.

In these post-modern days, people who are exposed to or presented with their sins usually retort with, “Doesn’t Jesus say ‘Judge not lest ye be judged’? How dare you judge me?!?”

Which is odd since what you’ve been complaining about is people mocking and marginalizing Christianity. What the responder here is doing is accepting it and arguing within its framework. Staying in the framework of sin and judgment seems like a clear win for your religion.

I think a more rational response to your claim of sin is that we don’t choose to play by the rules handed down by middle eastern tribes wandering in the desert. Your religion invented sin and has done it’s level best to foist it on us – your religion can keep it.

Yet the fact of the matter is, these people go on their merry ways totally oblivious to the glaring fact that God will one day judge them, should they remain unrepentant of sin. The Bible is rife with example after example of the Lord God passing judgment and carrying out sentence against the children of Israel for turning away from him. Time and time again, after warning them through his word, through prophets, and through even miracles, God was forced to move his hand of judgment against Israel precisely because of their continual rejection of him.

And real life is curiously absent of confirming examples of this. We’ll stay in real life and you can stay in your fantasy world. It’s probably best that way.

History is further rife with nation after nation being reduced from golden-age glory to ashes of destruction because her people turned away from Jesus Christ, rejected the Bible, and changed from God to false gods.

* pulls up a chair *

Oh…do tell. I’m sure this will be good!

From Ancient Rome, which persecuted the church of Jesus Christ,

Didn’t Rome convert to Christianity, thus paving the way for it to flourish as a religion and then the whole empire collapsed?

I’m getting mixed signals here.

to the United Kingdom of Great Britain, which once boasted a queen who read her Bible and prayed daily (Queen Victoria) to a nation where Islam is gaining serious ground on the church

Aren’t you supposed to be talking about nations that rejected Mr. Christ and thus were smited by God? I’m not seeing the smiting that Britain has received.

(which has all but ceased in being the soul-saving station she was ordained to be centuries ago).

Stay on target here, man. We’re talking about nations getting hammered by God. That’s important stuff!

God still allows disaster when nations reject him; he still pulls his hand of protection away from countries – though historically Christ-loving – which have turned away from him.

Examples please. The ones above suck.

Conclusion – For the USA, It’s Just the Tip of the Iceberg.

Many in the United States of America asked this question after the September 11^th, 2001, terrorist attacks: “Is God Judging the USA?”

The answer is no.

For the USA, those terrorist attacks – as tragic and devastating as they were – were just the very tip of the iceberg. The judgments carried out on Israel, on Egypt, and on every other nation mentioned in the Bible as having turned away from God, are very graphic in nature, and such has yet to fall on the United States.

Good! And here I was thinking that you were proposing that the Christian God uses Muslim terrorists to carry out his smiting. I’m glad to hear that you backed off on that one.

For decades, the United States was the bastion of Christian Values,

As well as every other religion, as per above.

the haven for all those who desired to be free to worship God without Government interference.

That’s a great plan that we should stick to.

As stated above, however, all things Christian are now being herded into a corner and into an area of society that may well be the point of no return.

As demonstrated by those laws against going to church that were just enacted…wait a minute…that didn’t happen? Pardon me.

The USA has replaced the God of her Founding Fathers

Which was not the Christian God at all.

with the false gods of self, convenience, lust, power, sex, and greed. If we, as the citizenry of the United States, do not turn back to God, worse judgments – far, FAR worse – than what we saw on 9/11/01 will take place.

You’ll keep writing this kind of drivel?

God – as he has done with every other nation in history – will remove his hand of protection, and the USA will surely fall just as Rome and every other adanced, technological civilization has fallen when they rejected God.

So queue up the dramatic music again, eh?

Only a Holy Ghost Revival, the likes of which have not been seen since the 1800s, can possibly save the USA at this point. When Israel turned, she was saved, but when she continued down the path of idolatry and godlessness, she suffered. It will be the same for the USA if we don’t change out ways.

Prayer – Father, we need revival! Bring it to us, the USA, we pray, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

For thousands of years people have been inventing and praying to some god or another for protection and salvation. According to this very article, it hasn’t worked as God has still smited all of these nations, some of whom were directly responsible for creating Christianity!

A good operating definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. I’m just saying.