URGENT PRAYERS/PETITIONS:
Same -Sex "Marriage"-Breaking News: Court Strikes DOMA; Clears Way for CA Gay Marriage CBNNews.com Wednesday, June 26, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2013/June/Nation-Awaits-High-Court-Rulings-on-Gay-Marriage/"...Traditional marriage supporters expressed disappointment with the court's rulings."One thing is true, the Supreme Court has no authority when it comes to the nature of marriage. That authority belongs to the Creator whom our Founders declared is the source of all our rights," Rev. Rob Schenck, chairman of the Evangelical Church Alliance, said. The court's deliberations on whether to legalize same-sex marriage come as states remain split over the issue.The number of states permitting gay marriage has increased from six to 12 in the last year. But the drive to legalize it in Illinois stalled. Constitutions in 30 states still ban the practice." PRAY for the sake of possibly millions of children, and for our country if it is to continue to be shown any more favor by our Heavenly Father, who I promise you will be very displeased if homosexual marriage is legalized; "GOD IS NOT [TO BE] MOCKED..." - (Gal. 6:7) - Stan [Be sure to check out my brief essay at post #478.]
American Pastor Saeed Held Prisoner in Iran - June 5th Update - "Saeed's Wife Uses UN Speech to 'Plant Gospel'," by George Thomas, CBN News Sr. Reporter, June 05, 2013, http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/June/Saeeds-Wife-Uses-UN-Speech-to-Plant-Gospel/?cpid=EU_CBNNEWSPM_2013_156"Prayers from Prison: American Pastor Held in Iran Releases Letter," May 22, 2013; http://www.presidentialprayerteam.com/Prayerwatch?pw=1458"...Abedini has been held at the brutal prison for 238 days, enduring long stints in solitary confinement, and, according to his supporters, beatings and torture at the hands of his jailers and fellow inmates. For months, he has been suffering from serious injuries, including internal bleeding from beatings with no proper medical attention, according to his family and attorneys."(Sources: Fox News, Assemblies of God website) Please PRAY:1) For the imprisoned Pastor Abedini, and for those Iranians who tend to his needs in prison to treat him more humanely. 2) For his family in Boise, Idaho. and their efforts to involve the U.S. State Department in securing Pastor Abedini’s release. And 3) For the impact of his witness upon believers and non-believers, in America and across the world. And if you have not yet, join the over 600,000 worldwide who have signed the petition asking for his release at www.SaveSaeed.org
UPDATE
: June 21 - "Pastor Saeed in Good Spirits as Threats Increase," CBNNews.com; http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2013/June/Pastor-Saeed-in-Good-Spirits-as-Threats-Increase/The family of imprisoned American Pastor Saeed Abedini visited him in Iran's Evin Prison this week. They say he was in good spirits...According to the American Center for Law and Justice, the 33-year-old pastor told his family his health appears to have improved. The ACLJ also said that since Iran's presidential election last week, Abedini reported Iranian prison guards have threatened to move him to a more remote prison. Such a move would make it nearly impossible for his family to visit him.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"5 Things You Need to Know About the Supreme Court’s Marriage Cases," by Ryan T. Anderson,June 22, 2013
[This] week the Supreme Court will decide two cases dealing with the definition of marriage.One concerns the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage for the purposes of federal law as the union of one man and one woman. President Clinton signed DOMA into law after Congress passed it by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in 1996. The other case concerns Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment approved by California voters in 2008 defining marriage for state purposes as the union of one man and one woman.
At stake is whether citizens and their elected representatives have the constitutional authority to make laws that reflect the truth about marriage. Here are five things you need to know:
1. Courts Shouldn’t Redefine Marriage - The U.S. Constitution does not require redefining marriage. Unelected judges should not usurp the authority of citizens and their elected representatives to discuss, debate and vote on important policy matters. In a Heritage Legal Memorandum [2], John Eastman explains why marriage laws are constitutional.
2. President Obama and the Government of California Didn’t Do Their Duty - President Obama instructed Attorney General Eric Holder not to defend DOMA. The governor of California told the state’s attorney general not to defend Prop 8. These abdications of the constitutional responsibility to defend laws passed by citizens and their elected representatives sets a disturbing precedent. Their inaction distorts the balance of powers among the legislative, executive and judicial branches. This tactic allows the executive branch to effectively veto any law, simply by refusing to defend it [3] against challenge.
3. Telling the Truth About Marriage Matters for Policy - Marriage exists to bring a man and a woman together as husband and wife to be father and mother to any children their union produces. Government recognizes marriage because it is an institution that benefits society [4] in a way that no other relationship does. Marriage is society’s best way to ensure the well-being of children. State recognition of marriage protects children by encouraging men and women to commit to each other and take responsibility for their children.
4. Redefining Marriage Would Have Bad Consequences - Redefining marriage would further distance marriage from the needs of children and would deny, as a matter of policy, the ideal that a child should have both a mother and a father. It’s hard to insist that fathers are essential when the law has redefined marriage to make fathers optional. Delinking childbearing from marriage leads to more state intervention and expanded government welfare programs. Redefining marriage to abandon male-female sexual complementarity would make other essential characteristics—such as monogamy, exclusivity and permanency—arbitrary, as leading LGBT scholars and activists admit [5]. Redefining marriage is a direct and demonstrable [6] threat to religious freedom. This is already evident in Massachusetts, Illinois and Washington, D.C., where Christian adoption agencies have been forced to stop providing adoption and foster care services.
5. What You Can Do to Prepare for the Rulings - The Supreme Court’s decisions will not end the marriage debate. That’s why we need to explain well what marriage is, why marriage matters and what the consequences will be if we redefine it [4]. Whatever one thinks about marriage, the courts shouldn’t be redefining it. America should make marriage policy through the democratic process, rather than allowing unelected judges to dictate it through decisions that have no grounding in our Constitution.
To help you engage the marriage debate, Heritage worked with allies to produce a downloadable booklet [7] using everyday language to explain why marriage matters.
Additional research from Heritage on marriage:
[bold and italics emphasis (not underlined) mine]
Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org; URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/06/22/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-the-supreme-courts-marriage-cases/
URLs in this post:
[1] Watch Our Short Video on Why This Matters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu-2hBGYiOM
[2] Heritage Legal Memorandum: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/01/the-constitutionality-of-traditional-marriage
[3] refusing to defend it: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/351478/marriage-democracy-and-court-ryan-t-anderson
[4] an institution that benefits society: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/03/marriage-what-it-is-why-it-matters-and-the-consequences-of-redefining-it
[5] admit: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/03/redefining-marriage-eroding-marital-norms-and-other-impact
[6] direct and demonstrable: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/06/10393/
[7] downloadable booklet: http://www.heritage.org/marriage/
[8] Marriage Matters: Consequences of Redefining Marriage: http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/03/why-marriage-matters-consequences-of-redefining-marriage
[9] What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: a Defense: http://whatismarriagebook.com/
Copyright © 2013 The Heritage Foundation. All rights reserved.
Three recent articles on the online journal Public Discourse [1] examine different ways in which the institution of marriage would be affected if it is redefined to disregard the norm of sexual complementarity.
1) “Yes, Marriage Will Change—and Here’s How [2],” by University of Texas professor of sociology Mark Regnerus, predicts the effects of redefinition on marital relationships. Regnerus argues that the redefinition of marriage would, among other things, erode marital norms. The expectation of exclusivity and fidelity, for example, would give way to greater acceptance of non-exclusive or “monogamish” marriages:
Smoot also warns about the consequences of normalizing the use of surrogate wombs and sperm and egg donors to produce children artificially. He writes that “same-sex marriage will enshrine in our culture the ongoing industrialization of collecting and distributing sperm and eggs,” since same-sex couples would have to look to others for reproductive capacity.
3) Finally, Professor Matthew J. Franck argues in “Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom, Fundamentally at Odds [4],” that the redefinition of marriage would not be accompanied by protections for those who believe marriage is—and remains, whatever policy may say about it—the union of a man and a woman:
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Jim McGlone is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please click here [6].
1) “Yes, Marriage Will Change—and Here’s How [2],” by University of Texas professor of sociology Mark Regnerus, predicts the effects of redefinition on marital relationships. Regnerus argues that the redefinition of marriage would, among other things, erode marital norms. The expectation of exclusivity and fidelity, for example, would give way to greater acceptance of non-exclusive or “monogamish” marriages:
"This, I predict, will be same-sex marriage’s signature effect on the institution—the institutionalization of monogamish as an acceptable marital trait.… [T]he legitimacy newly accorded [same-sex] marital unions spells opportunity for men everywhere to bend the boundaries."2) In “Children Need Our Marriage Tradition [3],” John M. Smoot, a former trial court judge of Boston’s Probate and Family Court, describes how children need a strong marriage culture to give them a life script that puts them on a track to channel their sexual desire into a stable and healthy relationship.
Smoot also warns about the consequences of normalizing the use of surrogate wombs and sperm and egg donors to produce children artificially. He writes that “same-sex marriage will enshrine in our culture the ongoing industrialization of collecting and distributing sperm and eggs,” since same-sex couples would have to look to others for reproductive capacity.
3) Finally, Professor Matthew J. Franck argues in “Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom, Fundamentally at Odds [4],” that the redefinition of marriage would not be accompanied by protections for those who believe marriage is—and remains, whatever policy may say about it—the union of a man and a woman:
"At bottom, even the defense of religious liberty is a struggle over what is true and false about the meaning of marriage. Should the truth about marriage—that it unites men and women so that children will have fathers and mothers—be defied by the laws of the land, we cannot expect the religious freedom of those who believe in that ancient truth to be respected under the new dominion of falsehood."To help you engage in the marriage debate, The Heritage Foundation—along with the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council, and the Alliance Defending Freedom—has produced What You Need to Know about Marriage [5], a free e-book available for download at TheMarriageFacts.com.
[bold and italics emphasis mine]
Jim McGlone is currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please click here [6].
Article printed from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News Blog from The Heritage Foundation: http://blog.heritage.org; URL to article: http://blog.heritage.org/2013/06/23/marriage-consequences-of-redefinition/
URLs in this post:
[1] Public Discourse: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/
[2] Yes, Marriage Will Change—and Here’s How: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/06/10325/
[3] Children Need Our Marriage Tradition: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/06/10344/
[4] Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Freedom, Fundamentally at Odds: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/06/10393/
[5] What You Need to Know about Marriage: http://www.heritage.org/marriage/
[6] click here: http://www.heritage.org/about/departments/ylp.cfm
Copyright © 2013 The Heritage Foundation. All rights reserved.
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