Neither Friend of Court or Culture: Obama Asks Supreme Court to Undermine Marriage

3/4/2013

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here.

It will be the first of many efforts to come. It marks the beginning of a burgeoning movement which has historic consequences.

True marriage is the preeminent and the most fundamental of all human social institutions. It is a relationship defined by nature and protected by the natural law that binds all men and women. It finds its foundation in the order of creation. Civil institutions do not create marriage nor can they create a right to marry for those who are incapable of marriage.

The institutions of government should defend marriage against those who would redefine it. Government has long regulated marriage for the common good. For example, the ban on polygamy and age requirements were enforced in order to ensure that there was a mature decision at the basis of the Marriage contract.

When sexual behavior between two men or two women is viewed as the foundation of a right to marry- and those who oppose this edict of a new Caesar are characterized as being against the freedom to marry and equal rights - the revolutionary plan advances and the common good is threatened.

To limit marriage to heterosexual couples is not discriminatory. Homosexual couples cannot bring into existence what marriage intends by its very definition. To confer the benefits that have been conferred in the past only to stable married couples and families to homosexual paramours is bad public policy.

Theologians and Philosophers speak of ontology as the science or philosophy of being. For example, a rock is a rock and not a cabbage; a man is a man and a woman is a woman. Marriage is ontologically between a man and a woman, ordered toward the union of the spouses, open to children and formative of family.

The enforcers of this new order, whether ruling from the bench or misusing their office in the Legislative and Executive branch, unchecked by any balance of power, have followed what the legal positivists have long proclaimed, "The law is what the courts say it is."

Christians must not participate in the destruction of the institution of marriage and the erosion of the social order built upon it. We must become what St. Josemaria Escriva once called "rebels of love": "Nowadays it is not enough for men and women to be good. Moreover, it is not good enough to be satisfied with being nearly. good. It is necessary to be 'revolutionary'.Faced by hedonism, faced by the pagan and materialistic wares that we are being offered, Christ wants objectors! - rebels of Love!" (The Furrow #128)

Not only does the Natural Law affirm marriage, the Sacred Scriptures and unbroken teaching of the Church confirm that marriage is between one man and one woman. Of that there is no doubt. Those who attempt to argue otherwise in the various Christian communities are lying, ill informed or being disingenuous. They are also false teachers.

Catholic Christians must fully participate in and even now lead the defense of Marriage. After all, in the face of other Christian communities backing away from orthodoxy, our Church is the most vocal in the defense of marriage - and the family and society founded upon it. That means we will face the brunt of the persecution which will come. It has already begun. We need to be ready for it.

In his Christmas address to the Roman Curia, then Pope Benedict XVI pulled no punches. Many of the reports on the address in the main stream media were not only inaccurate, they were not journalism. Rather, they were propaganda. His entire address should be read by all Catholics, other Christians, other people of faith and all people of good will.

He raised the questions we must take up affirming, "the question of the family is not just about a particular social construct, but about man himself - about what he is and what it takes to be authentically human. The challenges involved are manifold. First of all there is the question of the human capacity to make a commitment or to avoid commitment."

"Can one bind oneself for a lifetime? Does this correspond to man's nature? Does it not contradict his freedom and the scope of his self-realization? Does man become himself by living for himself alone and only entering into relationships with others when he can break them off again at any time? Is lifelong commitment antithetical to freedom? Is commitment also worth suffering for?"

"Man's refusal to make any commitment - which is becoming increasingly widespread as a result of a false understanding of freedom and self-realization as well as the desire to escape suffering - means that man remains closed in on himself and keeps his "I" ultimately for himself, without really rising above it."

"Yet only in self-giving does man find himself, and only by opening himself to the other, to others, to children, to the family, only by letting himself be changed through suffering, does he discover the breadth of his humanity. When such commitment is repudiated, the key figures of human existence likewise vanish: father, mother, child - essential elements of the experience of being human are lost."

In his apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Charity, Benedict XVI summarized the duty of the Catholic faithful in the current assault on authentic marriage: "Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself."

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Catholic Church wrote in 2003 "The Church's teaching on marriage and on the complementarity of the sexes reiterates a truth that is evident to right reason and recognized as such by all the major cultures of the world. Marriage is not just any relationship between human beings. It was established by the Creator with its own nature, essential properties and purpose."

"No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman, who by mutual personal gift, proper and exclusive to themselves, tend toward the communion of their persons. In this way, they mutually perfect each other, in order to cooperate with God in the procreation and upbringing of new human lives."

To limit marriage to heterosexual couples is not discriminatory. Homosexual couples cannot bring into existence what marriage intends by its very definition. To insist with the police power of the State that we pretend otherwise does not serve the common good. Civil institutions do not create marriage nor can they create a new right to marry for those who are incapable of marriage.

Government has long regulated marriage for the common good. For example, the ban on polygamy and age requirements were enforced in order to ensure that there was a mature decision at the basis of the Marriage contract. Heterosexual marriage, procreation, and the nurturing of children form the foundation for the family, and the family forms the foundation of civil society.

There is a new resistance movement and we must take our place within its ranks. We must become rebels of love.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: marriage, gay marriage, homosexual marriage, homosexual equivalency movement, marriage equality, Human rights campaign, Amicus brief, Friend of the Court brief, Obama, Hollingsworth v Perry, Department of Justice, Supreme Court, Deacon keith Fournier

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1 - 10 of 150 Comments

Emma
2 months ago
@ ERic...are you saying that we should have no belief other than a belief in a "new world order "? How Orwellian! But, you see ERic, the new world order that you espouse, is not new. It's been tried and it has failed, while the Christian Faith guided by the flagship known as the Catholic Church sails on. A very large number entering into communion with the Catholic Church are young college graduates who grew up in just the environment that you praise and have found it severely lacking! How I pray that more will become students of history. This is history repeating itself. Nero burns down Rome. Nero whips the ignorant masses into a frenzy against Christians. Nero refuses to accept responsibility for his own actions. But, what our modern day Nero didn't plan on!? Nero didn't plan on brave young men and women of faith coming out from behind church doors and engaging him in the public square. Nero underestimated our resolve and deep seated love of God. The emperor has no clothes!!
DLL
2 months ago
To accept a lie as the new so truth of the way it is,is insincere. Tradition is the foundation of our way of life and Christian tradition is the same yesterday,today and we believe forever,as life is not just the carnal sense of being it is spiritual and eternal. All humanbeings are composed of body,blood and soul. Christ brought us the sense of Divinity. Divinity is the icing on the cake so to speak. Eternal truth is rooted in the faith that our Church seems to so stubbornly hang onto because within the teachings of our Church is the path to eternal life,as in that life is the life where God reigns supreme. Christ is the way to God and the only way. Humankind is denying God and His existence. The Bible has always spoken to the present age because in every age is the choice to either be a person of faith or one without faith. It seems that whatever one chooses to believe,faith or no faith,it is a free choice either way. The economy is the golden calf that most serve as they scratch out a human existence for themselves. Mammon is the concern for earthly and carnal things only. Jesus was obedient to God and through his Holy Sacrifical offering on the Holy Cross He made the Divine to be a reality for all people. Forgiveness is the way of Divinity. To forgive and to be forgiven is a Holy key to Divine Peace on earth as it is in Heaven. If we could only forgive one another we could stop wars. The Sacred is not the option in human negotiations. For that reason we must know that Christ is really the only way to God. The lack of any quality to living in the world today because it is increasingly secular and Godless,is no viable option for any Catholic today. Christians must serve God! ERic I hope that helps to answer your question somewhat. The Apostles always chose to serve God over mammon and so must we as they paid with their lives to follow God as only in God did they see any meaning to the reason for being. They were and we are right to hold on to our Faith. Faith is life's greatest gift,the Holy Catholic Faith.
Phil Cooper
2 months ago
ERic, your statements here are tantamount to declaring that the laws of nature, e.g., the law of gravity, are "outdated ideals", as you put it. It's an attitude of pure hedonism.

No, ERic, we don't believe in your "god", whoever or whatever it is. We believe in God.

As for worrying about "when the future arrives", we don't. By definition, the future is ... in the future.
ERic
2 months ago
The efforts put into pushing outdated ideals are baffling to me. Instead of the church and its believers putting forth an effort to be a part of the new society that is inevitable, you fight every step of the way. This has been your methods since your beginnings. When the future arrives and you wonder why no one is in the pews or believes in your god, remember, you have only yourself to blame.
Joe
2 months ago
Amanda, pray to Mary and ask Her to help guide you. She will hear your prayers and help you. She understands our pain and suffering.
robert matzinger
2 months ago
Obama has appointed himelf as the "great leader" who knows what is needed to transform America into the "new great society." Obama has told us that men sleeping together and raising children; women sleeping together and raising children; and a man and woman raising their children - it's all the same! That this old notion of the value of having a man and a woman raising children has no real meaning or significance in his "new great society" that he intends to create and have the rest of us conform to this beliefs!.
Dog Lover
2 months ago
in dog we trust: I do have more faith in my dog (Shetland Sheepdog)than in you,Obama,liberal agendas,so called gay marriage,abortion,euthanasia,our sex crazed society and the politics of this age. Is that what you mean by growing up? Than I agree! After all dog is GOD spelled backwards so most of all I have Faith in God,as God defines the meaning of true and a Holy kind of love that we can all share with one another in community with each other. That is true freedom as no one would want any harm to come to anyone. Pray for the common welfare of others and for yourself. God Bless. May your nose be licked by a friendly dog today!
Harold Olsen
2 months ago
I disagree with the above headline where it says that Obama asks the Supreme Court to undermine marriage. Obama and his regime ask nothing. They demand. As far as he is concerned he was elected dictator not president and everyone had better obey him. The two houses of Congress seemed willing to do so and I'm beginning to believe the Supreme Court is also. His supporters worship him as a god and messiah and Congress and the Court seem to have joined the cult.
MonicaG
2 months ago
If a state law does not allow a homosexual individual to marry, i.e. wed one member of the opposite sex, then that's an unequal protection of the law. Gay adults should be able to marry and have the possibility to procreate like anyone else. As for other pair-bondings, don't call them marriage. Even if you have an older man and woman marry, or one has been told they cannot have children, there still is a possibility that one day it could happen, whereas there is NO CHANCE at all that two members of the same sex could conceive a child together. Marriage is a biologically driven need that is unique and that is why it receives special status from any government in the world.
Rob
2 months ago
Marriage in this country was underminded well before homesexual marriage became an issue. Notice how there is virtually a peep about the terrible divorce rate in this country or the public mockery this sacrament receives from so many in the media? I think it's easier to point out homosexual marriage as being a problem than it is to clean up our own house.

Just another example where by our own actions and silence, we just lack credibility. We can't expect this world to listen to our words when our actions don't follow suit.

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