Legal Expert's Book Takes On Same-Sex Marriage Issue
by Allie Martin
December 16, 2004
(AgapePress) - A new book by attorney and Liberty Counsel president Mathew D. Staver encourages people to become involved in the culture war to preserve traditional marriage in America. In his book Same-Sex Marriage: Putting Every Household at Risk (Broadman & Holman, 2004), the author asserts that the battle for marriage is the biggest issue facing U.S. Christians today.
Liberty Counsel has filed a brief in federal court defending the constitutionality of California's marriage laws and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act. In the 38-page brief, Liberty Counsel argues that the state has the right to limit marriage to the union of one man and one woman in order to promote the ideal setting for the raising of children. Staver says there is an undeniable "direct correlation between marriage and the security of our future society." He believes and unequivocally states, "Same-sex marriage would destroy marriage and hurt children."
The Liberty Counsel attorney's new book, Same-Sex Marriage, is filled with studies and statistics building the case for his contention that children need both a father and a mother, and that gender is important to the development of children. He contends that legalizing same-sex marriage would be severely detrimental to society, and that it will "hurt children, it will hurt the institution of marriage, and it will also hurt religious freedom."
Mat Staver | |
According to Staver, there is ample scientific evidence to support these assertions. "We know, for example, that there are over 10,000 studies that say children do best when they are raised with a mom and a dad," he points out. "We also know that there is a direct correlation between what happens in the home and how these children actually get along in society."There is also evidence to support a link between the presence of a male role model in the home and male criminal behavior, the head of Liberty Counsel points out. "We know there's a correlation between why there are males committing more violent crimes when there is an absent father figure," he says.
But despite all the evidence of the potential for harm in legalizing same-sex marriage, Staver says homosexual activists have used and manipulated the media to achieve the desired goals of the homosexual agenda. Moreover, he adds, in many instances liberal judicial activists have cooperated with that agenda, siding with the pro-homosexual lobby in the assault against traditional marriage and family structures.
"There are cases right now in court," the attorney observes, "where moms have been told by judges that they cannot expose their own children to religious instruction or teaching that may be considered homophobic." The court order in the case to which Staver refers was entered, he says, because of literature found in the lobby at the church of the mother in question. The biblically-based pro-family church literature "didn't deal with homosexuality," he says, "but it was pro-family, pro-moms and dads."
The Liberty Counsel president believes the battle for traditional marriage is a winnable one, in spite of the best efforts of those who are intent on redefining the institution of marriage and the meaning of family. But Staver is urging more pro-family Christians to get involved in the fight, because he feels it may be the single most important moral issue America is facing today.
