Year In Review: Diverse Faith Groups Unite to Push for Federal Marriage Amendment
December 26, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Several major religious denominations have come together to urge the U.S. Senate to approve a marriage amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The Religious Coalition for Marriage has released a statement signed by 50 leaders and expressing support for the proposed federal marriage protection amendment.
The Coalition is comprised of all eight U.S. Catholic cardinals, as well as officials of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Church of God in Christ, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, and the National Association of Evangelicals. While diverse in many ways, the groups represented share a singleness of purpose -- the protection of traditional marriage.
As Dr. Richard Land of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention notes, this alliance of faith groups is "truly an historic coalition." He notes that this is the first time these churches, religious leaders, and institutions have coordinated their efforts on this scale.
Land says this has happened because a constitutional amendment is needed to preserve marriage from "radical activists acting through activist courts." These activists who are pushing to legalize marriage between homosexuals are, he asserts, "determined to reinterpret this fundamental institution in novel ways and against the will of the American people."
American Family Association founder and chairman Don Wildmon believes the united effort of these groups is a testament to the importance of one-man, one-woman marriage to all of society. He says the groups involved are representing countless other pro-family Americans who want traditional marriage protected from those seeking to redefine it.
"People are getting fed up with having homosexual marriage crammed down their throats by activist judges across the country," Wildmon says, "and we are absolutely thrilled that all of these groups have come together." While many of the coalition's members "have very divergent and different theological perspectives," he notes, "they do agree that marriage should be only between one man and one woman."
Also, the AFA spokesman contends, the coalition members realize that pastors and other faith community leaders cannot remain silent on this crucial issue any longer. He warns those who choose to stay quietly on the sidelines while biblical marriage is under attack that "the day will come" when they may wish they had spoken out.
"Because of your silence," Wildmon says, "if this thing passes -- if homosexual marriage becomes legal -- the day will come when you will be silenced, and it will be too late to do anything about it at that point in time. That's just the bottom line."
The Federal Marriage Amendment was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Next, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will bring the marriage protection measure, known as Senate Joint Resolution 1, to the floor for a vote on June 6.
The Religious Coalition for Marriage is mounting a major grassroots campaign of support in advance of the vote. A letter has gone out to all Catholic bishops from the U.S. Conference and the Knights of Columbus have alerted their members nationwide as well.
Meanwhile, the highest authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Quorum of Twelve, has endorsed the marriage amendment. And at the same time, all 43,000 Southern Baptist churches are being asked to take part in the campaign to advance the marriage protection measure and see it approved.
The Coalition has also launched a website (ReligiousCoalitionforMarriage.org) that enables church members to send messages urging their senators to approve the Federal Marriage Amendment, and a major grassroots postcard writing campaign is under way as well. Campaign organizers are predicting the Senate will receive millions of postcards and messages expressing support for the amendment.
