George Rasley, CHQ Editor | June 29, 2015
Conservatives, and many politically uninvolved Americans who share our values, were stunned by the Supreme Court’s decision to mandate same-sex marriage in all 50 of the United States.
And let’s be clear – the five Justices who made the majority for this outrageous decision didn’t “legalize” same-sex marriage in some passive way – they mandated that all states that don’t currently allow same-sex “marriage” change their existing laws, or pass entirely new laws, to create a new legal system that provides same-sex couples legal structures through which they can “marry.”
This is not only an unprecedented cultural mandate upon the entire country, it is an act that is profoundly antagonistic to our federal constitutional system through which states retained the power to define the structure of civil society within their borders.
What’s more, this intrusion, by a mere five unelected judges, overturns the will of the people, as expressed through state constitutional amendments, that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
In that sense it is a profoundly political – not judicial – act.
Our friend Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has said for years, same-sex “marriage” is but the tip of the iceberg in an attempt to fundamentally alter the cultural and moral landscape of the nation. It is part of an unrelenting war on Christianity and the family by the Left, liberal media, ruling elites and especially the Obama administration. And now, because of the Court’s ruling, our religious freedom is more in danger than ever before.
We couldn’t agree more with Tony.
While the media elite would like to make this decision about “equality,” no doubt Tony Perkins is right and the sexual revolutionaries will become even more aggressive to advance their agenda by going after the tax-exempt status of religious nonprofits and the accreditation of religious schools, colleges and universities that are the sources of instruction in traditional values.
Bottom line: What the Supreme Court’s decision mandating same-sex “marriage” is really about is stripping parents, the clergy, and other sources of non-governmental moral guidance, of their power and authority to freely instruct children in traditional Judeo-Christian values.
Don’t believe us?
Take away all of the legal trappings of the decision, and what Justice Kennedy’s opinion says in its simplest terms is, “My colleagues and I have decided the Bible and the Torah and the thousands of years of Western culture from which they are drawn are wrong.”
And once the government decides it is the only legitimate source of morality then religious freedom will evaporate and all within that government’s borders must bow to this new source of moral authority.
Simply put, the Supreme Court decision to redefine marriage will force Americans who believe that it is God who determines what is morally right and wrong, to stand against the oppressive power of the government.
The days and weeks ahead will no doubt be full of conflict over how the Supreme Court’s decision will be interpreted – and most importantly enforced.
Hillary Clinton has already praised the Supreme Court decision to mandate same-sex “marriages” and forcefully condemned opponents of the ruling, saying to the GOP presidential field, “Instead of trying to turn back the clock,” Republicans “should be joining us in saying no to discrimination once and for all.”
Observant Christians and Jews will be particularly put to the test and some, such as Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, have already caved-in to the demands of the secular left that they abandon their beliefs and accept the Supreme Court’s decision as final.
Others, such as we here at CHQ, Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, our friends at the Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage, and others, see the Supreme Court’s decision on same-sex “marriage” for what it is – a profoundly political decision that can be undone through political means.
We are reminded of the Supreme Court case of Worcester v. Georgia (a case regarding the removal of the Cherokee Indians from the State of Georgia). After Georgia lost in the Supreme Court, President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the decision against the state and instead called on the Cherokees to relocate or fall under Georgia’s jurisdiction – directly contradicting the Supreme Court’s decision.
Although Jackson is widely quoted as saying, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it,” his actual words to Brigadier General John Coffee were: “The decision of the supreme court has fell still born, and they find that it cannot coerce Georgia to yield to its mandate.”
Right now the Supreme Court decision will have the full support of the Obama White House. President Obama and his secular liberal allies understand very well that, as President, for the next 18 months or so, he controls the usual agencies governments use to coerce compliance with their policies; the military, law enforcement, the instruction of executive officials, etc.
But that mandate ends when a new President and a new Congress are elected and sworn-in.
Many conservative Americans were profoundly dishearterned by the Supreme Court’s embrace of same-sex “marriage.” To them we say, this is NOT the time to give up and retreat or to seek the sanctuary of the cloister, now is the time to fight. The way forward is to stand and fight for our values and for our religious freedom, and to make sure we elect a new President who shares our values and respects our religious freedom.