In Painting the Map Red Hugh Hewitt identifies 5 major messages that the GOP must put out there, over and over in the ’06 election cycle. In this series of post’s, we are looking at each message from our different perspectives to see where Mormons and evangelicals have common ground. The fourth of Hewitt’s messages is:
The Democratic Left Wants to Radically Redefine Marriage While Portraying Republicans as Bigoted.
John: The Evangelical View
As evidence of his contention Hewitt lays out the various judicial rulings and legislative actions regarding same sex marriage of recent years. Here is some fresh evidence since the book was pubished. More importantly, Hewitt lays out how those actions are in direct defiance of the will of the VAST majority of the American people, citing virtually every poll every done on the issue.
In my opinion this may replace abortion as the hot button issue for politically involved evangelicals in the next few election cycles. Marriage is one of the places where government and religion unavoidably intersect, as marriage is established in both places.
As we know, people come to their individual religiosity by any number of paths, but I am certain that one of the most common ones for adult evangelicals is for the benefit of their family – a family that they clearly think is one man and one woman.
The second reason this will be such a hot button issue is what Hewitt points out – this is governance in direct opposition, even defiance to the will of the people. That’s enough to rile up any red-blooded American, evangelical or otherwise. (Anybody remember the Stamp Act?)
I will be very interested in the comments of my co-blogger Lowell on this issue. As most are aware, historically, though not presently as I understand it, Mormons ran into much opposition in America because of their polygamist practices. Further, one of the best arguments against government sanction of same sex marriage, or having the nation become completely libertarian with regards to marriage, is that either will lead down the slippery-slope to polygamy, incest, bestiality, and other forms of deviant marriage. In other words, in the past, Mormons attempted to radically redefine marriage in America. The result was vigorous persecution, often beyond reasonable, civil, or legal boundaries.
Lowell: The Mormon Perspective
Same-sex marriage is one issue in which there is simply no distance between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons”) and Evangelicals– or, for that matter, among Mormons, Evangelicals, orthodox Catholics, observant Jews, and any other Judeo-Christian religion that takes the notion of revealed religion seriously. The Mormon Church states its official position on its web site:
The doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms marriage between a man and a woman, and opposes same-gender unions and any other sexual relations outside of marriage. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God to fulfill the eternal destiny of His children. “The union of husband and wife assures perpetuation of the race and provides a divinely-ordained setting for the nurturing and teaching of children. This sacred family setting, with father and mother and children firmly committed to each other and to righteous living, offers the best hope for avoiding many of the ills that afflict society.â€
Further detail is available here.
This statement is no mere platitude. The Church takes this issue very seriously. In 2000, when Proposition 22 was on the ballot in California with a definition of “marriage” as the union between one man and one woman, the Church was extraordinarily active in fund-rasing and organization. Together with the Catholic Bishops, the Orthodox Rabbis, and evangelical groups, the Mormons went door to door, planted lawn signs, and helped raise millions of dollars to secure Prop 22′s passage by a wide margin. Several weeks ago the Church not only announced its support for the Federal Marriage Amendment, but directed that a letter from the First Presidency of the Church be read in every U.S. congregation during Sunday services. The letter noted that a vote on the Amendment was set for June 6, 2006, in the U.S. Senate and urged members of the Church “to express themselves on this urgent matter to their elected representatives in the Senate.” (In my California congregation the contact information for our state’s two senators was handed out with the written Sunday meeting program.)
It’s clear that the Mormons and evangelicals were thinking the same way on this matter, according to the Salt Lake City’s Deseret News:
News of the letter was received with a “Great!” at the conservative, Colorado-based Focus on the Family. “The timing is wonderful,” says Peter Brandt, senior director of public policy. Focus on the Family has sent out its own letter to 135,000 U.S. pastors, offering them pre-printed postcards in support of the amendment. “We’ve distributed a million or so postcards,” Brandt says. The group has also launched phone campaigns in 14 states where Senate members voted against the amendment the last time. Utah is not on the list.
As noted above, Mitt Romney’s official positions on same-sex marriage are well-known and are fully consistent with his church’s position. It was his own Massachusetts Supreme Court that discovered, after hundreds of years, a right to gay marriage in the state constitution. (Goodridge v. Department of Public Health was the case.) Romney has railed against the Goodridge decision ever since the court handed it down.
John mentions polygamy. All I can safely say about that without risking a foray into my own opinions is to state the Church’s official position:
Some early leaders and members of the Church entered into plural marriages during the latter half of the nineteenth century. After receiving a revelation, Church President Wilford Woodruff declared the practice should be discontinued in 1890. That position has been reaffirmed by every president of the Church since. Members of the Church who enter into plural marriage today face Church disciplinary action, including excommunication.
It is true, as John notes, that much of the persecution of the Church during one period of its history arose from the practice of “plural marriage,” as it was called. There were many other excuses given for persecution as well. It is important to understand that the Mormons of that era practiced polygamy because of their sincere belief that God had commanded them do do so. They quit when (1) the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the government’s authority to regulate polygamy, even though it was the expression of a religious belief, and (2) their prophet told them that the practice must now stop. (I don’t know a single practicing Mormon who wishes polygamy would return, by the way; the general feeling is to wonder how on earth those people managed to live that way.) So to the average mainstream Mormon, there’s no connection between polygamy and same-sex marriage; the former is prohibited, and the latter is considered a true abomination, directly contrary to God’s plan of happiness for His children.
Marriage, in short, is another area in which Mormons and evangelicals can and do make common cause.
Chime in on this subject, if you wish, on the comment forum.
[tags]elections, issues, marriage, same-sex marriage, polygamy, evangelicals[/tags]
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