In the Beginning God Created... Adam and Steve?

Civil Unions, Same-Sex Marriages, by who's authority?

Dr. Martin Luther King, asserted a strong defense for Civil Rights in his "I have a Dream" speech, by saying  that which he was defending was "one that is rooted in the American Dream."

His foundational belief was that our Rights as persons came from a higher source. As one signer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, wrote: "all men" are entitled under "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God;" to "certain Inalienable Rights of life, liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

In agreement, however, with Constitution signer, James Madison, I think that "because men are not angels they tend to violate the Rights of others." [Federalist #51]  This justifies the need for society to set a high-moral rule of conduct for governing our behavior towards our fellowman.

What authority do either "Civil Unions," or "Same-Sex Marriage" advocates express for fulfilling their moral obligation, "to secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and to our Posterity?" [U.S. Constitution's Preamble]

If pro-lobbying groups like the "Gay & Lesbian Center Task Force," or the "National Black Justice Coalition" are going to use the civil Rights argument to justify the "Rectitude of there intentions," shouldn't "We the People" hold these and all others who favor their cause, accountable to the same standard that Dr. King and millions of Americans during the Civil Rights era agreed to uphold?

Dr. King said, "A just law (civil) squares with the moral law of God; an unjust law is out of harmony with the moral law."

In other words it is by God's authority that the states exist, that is to protect a People who choose  to govern themselves by the Rule of law (Romans 13:1-4) . Our  Declaration of Independence acknowledges God as the Lawgiver, Creator, Supreme Judge of the World, and Divine Protector of mankind. And Article VII of the U.S. Constitution expresses the States Unanimous Consent to submit to such a Declaration-"in the year of our Lord 1787, and of the Independence of the United States of America..."

The proposed FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT ACT(H.J.Res. 56) codifies the institution of marriage in one sentence; "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman."

What civics lesson do I grasp from this analogy?  First, amending the U.S. Constitution to protect traditional marriage is a duty which belongs to every citizen of this country without  violating the natural Right of any person. The same God who grants all men liberty to unite with one wife, also lays on both spouses the charge of conforming to His Will. 

Secondly, the preservation of marriage the way God intended is a task that requires more virtue than the power any human law alone can enforce.

We must therefore, endeavor to keep re-affirming the original source of our Rights as persons, alongside the performance of our civil duties as "One Nation under God indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

That is a part the original, Christian idea of our American Constitutional Republic. Beware lest you fall prey to the dangerous Worldview that this nation's Constitution no longer has any moral authority that "We the People" are bound to respect.

Declaration of Independence signer, Samuel Adams, stated:  "While the People are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader."

Keith Hardine © 2004 

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