The Coming Persecution

July 1, 2008

It is all about equal rights, the gay "marriage" lobby keeps telling us. We just want the right to marry, like everyone else.

That is what they are telling us. But that is not what they mean. If same-sex "marriage" becomes the law of the land, we can expect massive persecution of the Church.

As my friend Jennifer Roback Morse notes in the National Catholic Register, "Legalizing same-sex 'marriage' is not a stand-alone policy . . . Once governments assert that same-sex unions are the equivalent of marriage, those governments must defend and enforce a whole host of other social changes."

The bad news is these changes affect other liberties we take for granted, such as religious freedom and private property rights. Several recent cases give us a sobering picture of what we can expect if we do not actively embrace—and even promote—same-sex "marriage."

For instance, a Methodist retreat center recently refused to allow two lesbian couples to use a campground pavilion for a civil union ceremony. The state of New Jersey punished the Methodists by revoking the center's tax-exempt status—a vindictive attack on the Methodists' religious liberty.

In Massachusetts, where judges imposed gay marriage a few years ago, Catholic Charities was ordered to accept homosexual couples as candidates for adoption. Rather than comply with an order that would be harmful to children, Catholic Charities closed down its adoption program.

California public schools have been told they must be "gay friendly," as Roback Morse notes. But it will not stop with public schools. Just north of the border in Quebec, the government told a Mennonite school that it must conform to provincial law regarding curriculum—a curriculum that teaches children that homosexuality is a valid lifestyle. How long will it be before the U.S. government goes after private schools?

Even speaking out against homosexuality can get you fired. Crystal Dixon, an associate vice president at the University of Toledo, was fired after writing an opinion piece in the Toledo Free Press in support of traditional marriage . . . Fired—for exercising her First Amendment rights!

Promoters of same-sex "marriage" seem to go out of their way to target Christian businesses and churches. Their goal, it seems, is not the right to "marry," but to punish anyone who disagrees with them.

Clearly, there is a spiritual battle going on here: Christians are under attack because they are a public witness to the fact that a holy God created us male and female, and we will always put obedience to Him and His laws above obedience to any earthly demand for loyalty.

The coming persecution of Christians is one more reason why we need to get involved with efforts to pass laws at the state and federal level defining marriage as a legal relationship between one man and one woman. We must protect, not only genuine marriage, but also many of the freedoms we now take for granted: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, freedom to use private property the way we see fit—all are under threat.

And we must tell our friends and neighbors why gay "marriage" is not just about equality: It is about forcing religious believers to accept the validity of the homosexual lifestyle—or else.

Commentary by Charles Colson


I would say that this sums up a logical case for the "Christians" side in this, assuming Christians are bent on winning over the law. Personally I have to ask the question: Why does the government need to do either of these things? I can see bad implications of both. For example, if freedom for gays to express gayness is hindered, then thats not constitutional. But to force churches to recognize gays as married is unconstitutional. To even force recognition that gays can get married is unconstitutional because of the origin of marriage. Why cant we just let people do what they do and leave the government out of it?
I always say that while I do wish for everyone in the world to get along, have free peace, free trade, a non-materialistic, altruistic, happy society, that is no reason to force the government to take responsibility for those things. We should be loving Christians and loving people out of our own accord, not because we'll go to jail if we dont. It is not the government's job to make us loving people! Nor is it the governments job to force anybody to follow laws that are based on spiritual principles. If people are allowed only to make "good" moral decisions, they arent doing it because they want to...