What will the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision mean for Christians?

by christiannewsjournal
U.S. Supreme Court

Like it or not, we will have the high court’s long-awaited edict by the end of June. All eyes are on Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is widely considered to be the swing vote. On this issue, he may be equally torn between his commitments to state’s rights and gay rights. But the stakes could not be higher.

There are two options. Option one is that the court may exercise truly god-like powers, redefining marriage to include same-sex couples, fabricating by the exercise of raw judicial power a “constitutional right” to genderless nuptials—either as a matter of faux “equal protection” or as a make-believe “fundamental right.” This choice will likely cause similar but greater cultural harm than Roe v. Wade. Option two is that a majority of the justices will exercise increasingly rare judicial self-control, drawing within constitutional limits, leaving the definition of marriage to the states and to the people. What difference will the court’s judgment make, especially for Christians?

The first point is that neither option is good. While I can confirm, as a constitutional attorney, that option two is certainly more in keeping with the framework we call federalism, our Judeo-Christian roots, and natural law, the fact that we are even asking this question (i.e. whether to redefine the recipe for marriage and family affirmed by millennia of experience) means we already find ourselves in deep cultural weeds, from which we may not soon escape. This is precisely because, as I have written elsewhere, once you uncouple or sever moral claims, including civil rights, from an objective and transcendent Creator, then these formerly fixed truths become incredibly transient, mutable, and ethically vacuous. They are then guided and determined primarily by the raw coercive power of the very biased, human, immanent, fallible, and subjective elites currently tyrannically controlling culture’s megaphones. As a result, coercion replaces reasoned debate; propaganda replaces truth; opponent demonization replaces tolerance. What is a civil right? What is marriage? It is whatever the foolish “self-creating” narcissistic individual’s feelings want it to be. And if you disagree with them and their new civil right du jour, then you’re the devil.

Second, what will occur if the man-woman definition of marriage that has proven quite biologically and culturally successful worldwide for thousands of years is redefined to include same-sex “marriage?” This is a most dangerous sociological experiment which I submit will prove to have devastating impacts. This is because the Creator ordained the family as the most basic building block of society. Healthy intact man-woman led families result in thriving societies and flourishing nations. Weaker family structures prove to have the opposite impact. Based on social science and recent history, we will very likely see declining rates of marriage overall as respect for marriage erodes. This will result in more children born out of wedlock, increased fatherlessness, and higher rates of abortion and increased poverty. Polygamy and polyamory will soon follow. As the pagan idol of sexual “liberty” is increasingly worshipped, most remaining sexual taboos will fall, including bestiality, and the age of “consent” for sex and marriage will decrease as is already occurring in Europe. We may foolishly rebel against the Creator’s wise design, but not without severe consequences, as our already weakened cultural fabric continues to shred.

However, specifically for Christians, the resulting loss of religious liberty will be fast and furious. If the Supreme Court places its judicial stamp of approval, recognizing same-sex “marriage” as a federal constitutional “civil right,” those whose faith does not allow them to affirm such pairings will be unfairly branded, which they already are, as being motivated only by animus and as backwards, hateful bigots. We might as well light bonfires and dance around in pointy sheets—gay is the new black and biblical Christians are the neo-KKK. The emerging pattern of singularly intolerant tyranny is this: First they will come for Christians in the marketplace, where believers will be demoted or fired because of their “malformed” conscience. Then, they will come for non-conforming Christian ministries and colleges. Finally, they will come for faithful pastors in their “bigoted” pulpits.

Third, can we avoid the growing drumbeat of religious intolerance, discrimination, and persecution if the Supreme Courts get it right next month and leave the definition of marriage to the states? Tragically, no. The Gay Gestapo, as Tammy Bruce has called them, has near absolute control of culture’s megaphones, and far too many Christian leaders have either already submitted to the intoxicating cultural pressures, becoming biblically compromised, or have shamefully yielded their pulpits to service of what Chuck Colson called “the spiral of silence.” A “good” ruling from the high court will only serve, like a speed bump, to slightly slow the aggressive advance of the powerful arc of the current pendulum-swing of so-called LGBT “progress” and anti-Christian bigotry. To reverse the pendulum’s direction, a whole lot of hearts and minds would first have to repent and change, beginning with many of our Christian leaders (2 Chronicles 7:14).

How shall we then live? As we should have always been living: fearing God, not man—courageously engaging the culture, sharing the Gospel without compromise, praying for our leaders, and winsomely speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Whatever Justice Anthony Kennedy and the other justices do, may God grant us the boldness, strength, wisdom, and grace to stand firm, faithfully obey Him, endure until the end, and be roaring lambs in this present darkness!

Dean Broyles

 

— by Dean R. Broyles, Esq.

Broyles is a constitutional attorney serving as the President of The National Center For Law & Policy (NCLP), an organization fighting to promote and defend religious freedom. Copyright© The National Center For Law & Policy. Reprinted with permission.

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