Is Marriage Amendment Madness About To Break Out Again?
Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling against California’s Proposition 8 spurred the predictable round of incendiary rhetoric from the Religious Right. Chuck Colson said it could mean Armageddon for religious liberty, TV preacher Pat Robertson said gay people want to destroy the church and destroy marriage and the American Family Association’s Tim Wildmon demanded that the U.S. House impeach Walker.
Sigh.
That kind of irresponsible talk is bad enough. Even more worrisome, however, is the reaction from other just-as-extreme but politically savvier Religious Right leaders. They don’t want to just rant and rave; they want to change the U.S. Constitution!
Southern Baptist lobbyist Richard Land told Baptist Press News Service that the Perry v. Schwarzenegger decision should lead to a renewed campaign to pass a Federal Marriage Amendment.
Said Land, “If the Supreme Court fails to uphold the will of the people of California — if we are going to have our form of government altered by judicial fiat — then the only alternative left to us is to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman.”
TV talk show host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took the same tack.
“I believe it’s time for a federal constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman,” said Huckabee, a Religious Right favorites and former Southern Baptist pastor.” That is the only action that will truly protect marriage.”
Who spends these ridiculous amounts of time, energy and resources on trying to stop other people from doing something that has ZERO EFFECT on them? There must be so much fucking money at stake here it’s not even funny. I wonder if they list “Professional Hater” as occupation on their business documents.
