[
Originally posted at Street Prophets]
On January 20, 2006, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge M. Brooke Murdock ruled in favor of 9 same-sex couples and one widower who wanted to marry in Maryland, deciding that Maryland's prohibition of same-sex marriage "cannot withstand this constitutional challenge." (The full decision can be read here in .pdf format.) Almost immediately, radical "pro-family" conservatives were calling for Judge Murdock to be impeached.
In the most recent issue of my hometown newspaper there is a letter to the editor penned by the county coordinator for the National Day of Prayer, in which he offers his thoughts on the issues of same-sex marriage and the American judiciary.
Follow me below the fold to read the letter in its entirety.
Please forgive me for posting the entire letter. There are two reasons for this: first, it really should be read in its entirety. Second, my hometown paper doesn't post letters to the editor on their website.
Buckle your seatbelts, folks...
Well, another black-robed dictator has run roughshod over the will of the people. Baltimore County Circuit Judge M. Brooke Murdock ruled that the Maryland Legislature was wrong to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
"We the people" have been thwarted again. I sometimes wonder why we don't just anoint these judges "king" (or queen as in Murdock's case).
Some judges' attempts at social engineering are rather blatant lately as their rulings are based more on personal preference or European opinion rather than on our constitutions and laws. Feelings and emotions have trumped the law regarding proper marriage participants. Perhaps a judge should ask his dog "Fido" if he, too, feels left out of the marriage institution.
These judges seem bent on looking to any authority for guidance except our constitution, our laws, common law, or even the most authoritative guide book of all - the Bible and the words of Jesus Christ.
In regard to the exclusivity of marriage, Jesus' words are instructive. "He who made them at the beginning made them male and female. ... For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh" (Matthew 19:5-6). Jesus' words are plain and powerful to those who are looking for truth from the creator himself.
Why would we want to experiment with the institution of the family? We have no history anywhere in the world where we can observe the long-term results of same-sex based families. We've "experimented" enough with the family structure in this country.
We've already seen, on average, the deteriorating social and academic performance of children from single-parent households or from unwed parents living together. Why would we want to deviate again from the historic and Biblical standard for family? Why would we want to approve of same-sex marriage that would intentionally deprive a child of a mother or a father?
When properly practiced, both mother and father role models are valuable not only for the social and academic development of a child, but also for showing children how to properly interact with the opposite sex.
Unfortunately, judges aren't the only "social engineers" who would like to deconstruct marriage, nor will they stop with marriage. Educators, politicians and scientists all have representatives in their fields pushing to devalue marriage, human life and respect for law and authority.
Our country is in the throes of a culture war, and every God-fearing American needs to engage this culture in some way to stem the tide of social deconstruction. I don't care if your battle is in the media, education, sciences or government. Take your pick.
But there is no caveat to this battle. If the Lord does not go with us, we fight in vain. I suggest that participation in the National Day of Prayer or the NDP event in the courthouse is a good starting point.
I'm not even sure where to begin. When I read this just a few hours ago I was so furious that I had to get up and pace for a few minutes. There are so many horrible, misinformed, ridiculous statements in this letter that it's almost difficult to imagine someone actually believing all of them.
Two things immediately struck me. First, Mr. NDP believes that a "black-robed dictator has run roughshod over the will of the people." How many times do we have to repeat the lessons that everyone should have learned in high school civics? Congress is responsible to the will of the people. The judiciary is specifically NOT to be responsible to the masses. The judiciary is to be independent and far removed from the shifting sands of popular opinion. They are charged with interpreting and upholding the law: nothing more, nothing less. The legislature is charged with answering to their constituents, writing laws, and representing the will of the people. Mr. NDP obviously did not pay attention during the "Three Branches of Government" lecture. But this attitude is typical on the radical right. There is a complete disregard for the separation of the powers. Just ask the president and his Attorney General.
Second, Mr. NDP locates the root of the current "crisis" in the abandonment of sound biblical wisdom by the judiciary. It appears that Mr. NDP missed more than one lecture in high school civics. How many more times do we have to remind people that the Bible is not a legitimate norm or standard in legal arguments? We are not a theocracy (not yet, anyway) - we are, as the Founding Fathers intended, a secular democracy. We are still a secular democracy, even if 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. We may be a nation largely comprised of Christians, but that does not make us a "Christian Nation." Therefore the words of Jesus, true as they may be, are completely inadmissable in this case. He might as well quote Zarathustra - they both have the same weight in a court of law.
It always strikes me as particularly ironic that people such as Mr. NDP, who so fiercely project their pride in being an American, can be so ignorant of the actual traditions and laws of our nation.
There are other moments of sheer audacity in this letter: the tired "Santorum argument" that a legalization of same-sex marriage is but the first stage on the slippery slope to full-blown beastiality; the oft-repeated claim that same-sex and single parenthood are to blame for declining academic standards in American public schools; or that our social ills are the result of America-hating educators, politicians and scientists hell-bent on destroying civilization.
After reading this letter, I find myself in a state of depression. How have we as a people fallen so far from the ideals of our forebears? The Founders believed that an educated citizenry was more than capable of self-governance. I'm afraid we're on the path to losing that capability, if people like Mr. NDP continue to dominate the discussion in small town newspapers all over the country.
The battle of ideas is not won in grand, epic battles. It is won in small conversations, local activism, and ceaseless repitition of what we believe, both in word and in deed.