Summation of Marriage Debate

Marriage and the Conscience of a Nation

by Steve Deace on April 2, 2013      Print This Post

This is intended to be a handy tool summarizing some of the best news/opinion on the marriage battle at the U.S. Supreme Court this week. Keep this post handy and share it with your friends so they are prepared for what’s still to come.   

In my opinion, the most likely outcome here is the Supreme Court will say the Defense of Marriage Act signed into law by President Clinton in 1998 is unconstitutional. However, I also think SCOTUS will say it has no jurisdiction to impose on the people of California via Prop 8, relegating the marriage fight to the states for now (i.e. kick the can down the road)—where frankly we have a much better chance of winning.
Already there are 31 state constitutions that have enshrined marriage (state-year-percentage):

• Hawaii—1998—69%
• Alaska—1998—68%
• Nebraska—2000—70%
• Nevada—2002—67%
• Arkansas—2004—75%
• Georgia—2004—76%
• Kentucky—2004—75%
• Louisiana—2004—78%
• Michigan—2004—59%
• Mississippi—2004—86%
• Missouri—2004—72%
• Montana—2004—67%
• North Dakota—2004—73%
• Ohio—2004—62%
• Oklahoma—2004—78%
• Oregon—2004—57%
• Utah—2004—66%
• Kansas—2005—70%
• Texas—2005—76%
• Alabama—2005—81%
• Colorado—2006—56%
• Idaho—2006—63%
• South Carolina—2006—78%
• South Dakota—2006—52%
• Tennessee—2006—81%
• Virginia—2006—57%
• Wisconsin—2006—59%
• Arizona—2008—56%
• California—2008—52%
• Florida—2008—62%
• North Carolina—2012—61%

Of these 31 states, 12 are states that President Obama won in either 2008 or 2012 (or both), so this idea that marriage is simply a red state matter is false. Also, please note how recent all of these amendments were passed by popular referendum. All but four are less than 10 years old, so for the conventional wisdom that all of a sudden there has been a radical shift in the culture literally overnight to be true would be unprecedented in American history in such a short amount of time. Essentially, the anti-marriage folks are claiming they’ve been able to move culture faster than the Founding Fathers were able to move the 13 colonies to declare independence from England.
More likely they see an opening here for a landmark Trojan Horse event with a Republican Party imploding and a Christian Church content to make the Joel Osteens of the world multi-millionaires several times over. In addition, with the economy still in shambles and Americans pessimistic overall, their allies in the liberal media also need a diversionary issue to focus on. Does anybody really think we’d be spending so much time on this if unemployment was at 5% and the economy was actually growing? So the timing here is sort of a perfect storm.
This debate is like a basketball game, which is a game of runs. Right now the other side has momentum and is on a scoring run, so it’s time to call a timeout to stall their momentum and re-group because the game is far from over. As you can see from the states listed above (as well as 10 others that have enacted a Defense of Marriage Act legislatively), we’re still ahead on the scoreboard overall. The only question is do we have the resolve to win, and that’s very debatable.
The Wrong Side of History?
Maybe you’ve heard this week if you believe in marriage and/or the Word of God “you’re on the wrong side of history.”
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The progressives arguing against marriage are really regressives, arguing that western civilization return to the pagan culture of child sacrifice, nature worship, and sexual deviancy that history abandoned a long time ago.
Therefore, those arguing against marriage and the Word of God are really the ones on the wrong side of history. Evil often accuses good of doing what it’s doing after all. More importantly, however, and more tragically is that these regressives are also on the wrong side of eternity.
What the Other Side Really Believes
When you boil it down, the other side of the argument is literally paraphrasing what the devil himself used to usher evil into the world: “ye be like God.”
They are claiming they can either define God, or God doesn’t exist, or they’re more powerful than God. Listen to this interview from Sean Hannity’s radio program this week, and you’ll hear Terry Jeffrey of CNSNews.com get an alleged “minister” to flat-out say he believes God is wrong and he knows better.
There is nothing new under the sun, just new people under the sun who haven’t heard it yet. Previous generations of Americans would’ve quickly spotted such skullduggery and dismissed these pagan arguments right away, but they were far more Biblically literate than we are today. We are a Biblically ignorant culture, both inside and outside the church, so we’re being duped by the oldest trick in the book. Sadly, some of us allowed this very tactic into our pulpits in the name of relevance and becoming seeker friendly long before it got its hearing at the U.S. Supreme Court.
How We Got Here
For too long we have chosen comfort over confrontation, and thus have been out-worked here by an opposition with much more courage of conviction. They have been willing to lose elections in order to win a culture. We have not.
Our highest aspiration has been a counterfeit Neville Chamberlain-esque “peace in our time,” as well as a seat at the ruling class table. Meanwhile, they have been willing to topple the ruling class, and are on the brink of doing so. Sadly, if God is indeed just then we deserve everything we’re about to get. Thankfully, we also serve a merciful God. But it appears as if my generation is not yet humbled enough to learn from the mistakes of the previous one.
If the previous generation chose comfort over righteousness, my generation is poised to choose mammon (money, cultural acceptance, etc.) over Christ. We are voting for Barabbas over our Savior, as Erick Erickson at Red State wrote today.
What’s at Stake Here
This piece by a pro-gay rights libertarian who is against redefining marriage says it all— the ultimate goal here is no less than the destruction of the Christian church.
It’s quite simple as to why normalizing homosexuality and Christianity aren’t compatible, because Christianity is the reason homosexuality has never previously been validated by western civilization or these United States of America. So it’s basic common sense. If you’re going to normalize a behavior a culture then has to remove the barriers that stood in the way to it previously happening.
There are several examples of this already occurring in the U.S. as it is. A few years ago an attorney named Roger Severino, who now works for the Obama justice department, did an exhaustive study for Harvard that proved without a doubt redefining marriage will threaten religious freedom.
Anybody that tries to tell you that your rights of conscience as a Christian won’t be threatened by this is either a fool, liar, or dangerously uninformed.
Don’t buy it for a second.
Also understand that people are going to go to Hell over this. As G.K. Chesteron once pointed out, when the government removes God the government then becomes its own god. Therefore, when unrepentant people have their sinful desires validated by their own government, it sears the conscience towards immorality and hardens their hearts away from their need for grace and forgiveness.
Something even bigger than American culture or western civilization is at stake here: the potential for eternal damnation for some of your friends, loved ones, and our neighbors we are commanded to love as we love ourselves.
Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

Tagged as: marriage, state constitutions, steve deace

About Steve Deace

Steve Deace is nationally distributed each weeknight from 9-Midnight EST by the Salem Radio Network. His radio program has been featured in major media such as Fox News, CBS News, CNN, among others. Follow Steve @SteveDeaceShow.