In the past week, the debate over whether to allow same-sex couples to marry has once again heated up. This is mostly because two cases on this subject have reached the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments this past week, with decisions due sometime this summer.
As these cases played out in our national media, the use of the term “marriage equality” has also intensified. And this is the subject I want to address here.
While studying how this discussion has played out across the country this week, I came across the commentary of Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who is the Archbishop of San Francisco and also serves as the chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. I think the Church, as a religious institution, is highly qualified to discuss the issue of equality – perhaps the most qualified. We would not be having a discussion of equality and human rights without the Church.
In the discussion of “marriage quality,” Archbishop Cordileone states:
“Notice how there is no controversy in this country now over the eveil of Jim Crow laws. Shortly after the Civil Rights Act the cultural change was complete. This is because it was the right thing to do. The truth cannot be suppressed indefinitely.”
I think he raises an important point. For there are many – on both sides of this issue – who feel that if the Supreme Court grants some kind of legalization of “same sex marriage,” that the issue will somehow go away. That, in the words of the Archbishop, “the cultural change will be complete.”
This is highly unlikely, and we have the abortion issue as an example. The Archbishop asks us to:
“Draw a contrast here with the pro-life movement: After the Roe decision, it was commonly thought that our society would soon easily accept the legitimacy of abortion. But what has happened? The pro-life movement is stronger now, 40 years later, than it ever has been. That is because of the truth: Abortion is the killing of innocent human life. That is not a matter of opinion or religious belief; it is a simple fact that cannot be denied.”
If he is right (and I think he is) then I also think the whole argument in favor of “same-sex marriage” on the grounds of equality is completely bogus (which is also basically what he is saying).
If “same sex-marriage” is legalized into law nationally (as it sort of is in a few states) the opposition to it will not go away (as it has not even in those states).
It’s because there’s no clear evidence that legalizing it is “the right thing to do.” At the very least, it is a matter of opinion. Draw this in contrast to interracial marriages. While those were illegal for a period of time, it is clear that legalizing it was and is the right thing to do. And interracial marriages post-1950s were not the first ever in human history. Interracial unions between men and women have happened throughout human history – especially given the fact that various racial identities have changed across time and space. But “marriage” between two people of the same sex has never been granted by any church or any government until this generation.
For someone who believes marriage is primarily a sacrament of the Church, marriage is clearly only reserved for one man and one woman – therefore, opposition to it WILL continue.
Regardless of my personal religious beliefs, I for one respect consenting adults to do whatever it is they want to do with another. But the manipulation of the word EQUALITY to try to create some kind of right” that does not exist is just detestable and anyone who uses this term (in relation to marriage) which has meant so much to so many oppressed in history should give some more serious thought to what they are doing and who or what encouraged them to participate in this manipulation.
Our (natural) rights do not come from government. They come from God — or if you’re not religious, from the natural law of the universe (this is no better articulated than perhaps in the Declaration of Independence). However, the abolitionist and civil rights movements were built from the Christian belief that we are all EQUAL in the eyes of God – that is why you see religious men and women LEADING these movements – from the Quakers to Martin Luther King, Jr., etc. And this is a reason I think it is wise to listen to the commentary of those from the Church today, including Archbishop Cordileone.
Back to marriage: it didn’t originate with government. Its origins came from the Church. Whether or not you think the government should be involved in marriage doesn’t change the fact that if you go back in history, the primary reason government got involved in marriage in the first place was because of the children that marriage produced naturally. Stating the obvious, this cannot possibly happen naturally through the union of two people of the same sex.
No matter what the courts decide or how our legislators vote, this issue isn’t going away. Clearly, it’s one where the will of the people in each of the states should be respected. This is where our country got it wrong with the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion. The federal government should have never gotten involved in the first place. They created a cultural divide we are still dealing with.
My suggestion: Let this battle play out in each of the individual states. From a conservative perspective, that is what we should be championing. It would conform to a Constitutional conservatism we can all rally behind despite our beliefs (on either side of this issue) and help us move on from the cultural battles this issue has created.