The Associated Press reported that "The Christian Coalition, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Eagle Forum are among more than two-dozen organizations campaigning for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages in the United States." They intend to supply literature about same-sex marriage to over 70,000 churches and to make this a major issue in the up-coming presidential election.
The rhetoric these groups use shows how extremist, and irrational, they are. Sandy Rios, president of Concerned Women for America, told the AP "This is the very underpinning of civilization. If we remove those foundations, our entire civilization will come crumbling down." I guess she expects to see civilization crumbling in Canada, since same-sex marriages are now legal there. Does any sane person really believe that?
The Federal Marriage Amendment is designed not only to outlaw gay marriages, but also to prohibit the recognition of any civil rights for same-sex or unmarried heterosexual couples, including civil unions or domestic partnerships. It is a broad attack on fair and equal treatment of gay people.
It is also, in a real sense, anti-family and anti-marriage.
The same groups that are pressing the marriage amendment worry about the rising divorce rate and the increasing number of people who are choosing never to get married. But if they were really concerned about the loss of respect for marriage as an institution, they should welcome the fact that same-sex couples want to join the ranks of the married. Increasing the number of people who are allowed to be married would increase the size of the population that has a stake in the institution; and that would be good for marriage as an institution.
The groups that are pressing the marriage amendment also say they are concerned about protecting families. But if that were really true, they should welcome same-sex marriages. Same-sex couples are raising children in increasing numbers. Allowing same-sex marriage would greatly increase the security of those families and of the children that are part of them.
It is obvious that the extremist groups, like the Southern Baptist Convention, that are pressing for the Federal Marriage Amendment are not really concerned about marriage or the security of families in general. They are only concerned with pushing a narrow-minded view of how people should live and with trying to force their view on everyone else. They have very little respect for individual rights.
The Southern Baptist Convention used to be basically a support organization for the large number of loosely connected, but independent, Southern Baptist churches. Now the Southern Baptist Convention has been taken over by people who are using it to further a radically conservative political agenda--one that is not good for the country. Moderate Southern Baptists should oppose it.