“Marriage Amendment — Baptists on Sunday, Bush on Monday”

By Allie Martin, Jody Brown, and Rusty Pugh – June 2, 2006

(AgapePress) – Southern Baptist pastors are being encouraged this weekend to preach about the necessity of a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage. The legislative matter is scheduled to come before the U.S. Senate for debate and a vote [this] week.

The Marriage Protection Amendment (S.J. Res. 1) has 32 co-sponsors, all Republicans. The amendment states, in part, that marriage in the U.S. “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman” and that neither the U.S. Constitution nor any state’s constitution shall confer the legal incidents of marriage on any other type of union.

Because the measure deals with amending the U.S. Constitution, it must be approved by two-thirds of the Senate, and then two-thirds of the U.S. House, before going to individual states for consideration. Three-fourths of the states — 38 of them — would then have to ratify the measure.

Pro-family and faith-based groups across the country have been urging their supporters to contact their senators and encourage them to vote for the MPA. Among those groups is the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which has dubbed June 4 as “Marriage Protection Sunday” throughout its churches in an effort to encourage Southern Baptists to learn more about the threat to biblical marriage posed by same-sex unions.

Kenyn Cureton is vice president for convention relations with the Executive Committee of the SBC. He says pastors have an obligation to educate their congregations about the necessity of protecting traditional marriage.

“They need to take the lead in equipping their churches to become what Jesus asks us to be,” he explains. “That is, the salt that stings and then heals, and also the light that shines [as] the only way that’s hope for America, and that’s Jesus. And so if the pastors will take the lead in equipping the congregations, then I think the congregations will rise up and let their voices be heard on this matter.”

It is vital for Christians to get involved with the issue, asserts Cureton. “All you need to do is look at Scandinavia to see what is going to happen in America if we allow the definition of marriage to be changed,” the SBC official says, continuing to explain what has happened in that country.

“In Scandinavia for the last ten years or so, maybe fifteen, they’ve allowed de facto gay marriage. As a result, in some places in Norway upwards of 80 percent of the children are being born into homes without a legally married mom and dad, [who are] just cohabiting.”

Massachusetts is the only U.S. state to have legalized same-sex marriage. But state supreme courts in New Jersey, New York, and Washington could legalize such unions before the end of the year. Six states — Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin — are considering state marriage amendments this fall.

It’s Not All Rosy from the White House
Interestingly, at no point in the formal federal constitutional amendment process does the U.S. president play a role. The president can veto neither an amendment proposal nor a ratification. Yet the president’s opinion on the matter can carry great influence — and that is why a pro-family leader in Virginia is bothered by President Bush’s apparent reluctance to use his bully pulpit to rally support for the MPA.

President Bush is scheduled to deliver a speech in the nation’s capital on Monday, where he is expected to voice his support for the Marriage Protection Amendment. But Joe Glover, president of the Family Policy Network, says the fact that the president has waited until the day before the Senate votes to speak on the issue shows the president does not care. Bush, he says, “hasn’t lifted a finger” to push the MPA.

“He hasn’t twisted any arms, he hasn’t made any deals, he hasn’t been pushing senators to support defining marriage as between a man and a woman,” Glover states. “And [yet] he thinks that he can hold one speech … the day before the vote, which is a clear expression of weakness, and appease conservatives as if he’s done something significant.”

The pro-family activist notes that the president worked for months on issues such as Social Security and the Medicare prescription drug entitlement, “which conservatives didn’t even like.” Glover adds. “But for marriage he gives us one speech … the day before and expects us all to be pleased with it.”

In addition, Glover reports that the venue for Bush’s speech on Monday — originally to take place in the White House Rose Garden — has been moved to a room in the Eisenhower Building. He suggests the change in location as another indication of the administration’s lackluster support for the amendment. “They’ve moved it to the back of the bus,” he says.

Glover feels that Bush’s lack of concern for protecting traditional marriage is a slap in the face of conservative Christians who helped elect him. And it is ironic, he adds, that First Lady Laura Bush made the comment recently that protecting marriage should not be a campaign issue, when the issue was a key part of the Republican platform in 2004.

MORE INFORMATION:

LA Times – Gay Marriage Amendment Getting a Presidential Push:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gay3jun03,0,3806086,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines