Back to Exponent Menu Printer Friendly Page   EDITORIAL Friday, February 27, 2004 Latest ‘civil war’ pits defenders of marriage against courts America is on the brink of a new civil war. This time, the protagonists are not the North and the South engaged in some distant and historic struggle, but an all-too-real scenario in our midst: a battle between those who support the right of homosexual and lesbian couples to “marry” versus those who seek to retain the traditional understanding of marriage – one man and one woman engendering a family – that has lasted for thousands of years across the cultures of the world. Americans can and will argue about the merits of introducing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, as befits the legislative process in our society. But there is little doubt that this is a disturbing time in American culture. Activist judges have become ever more brazen in discovering “rights” in the Constitution that would have left the Founding Fathers aghast. Justices appear to be redefining human wants as human rights. Too many legislators courting the popular vote have followed suit. In this country, everywhere but within some Mormon sects, the very idea that marriage could be defined as anything but the monogamous relationship between one man and one woman would have been thought laughable a mere decade or two ago. Now, as institution after institution in our once-proud nation succumbs to the bilge washing across American culture at every turn, millions of decent, average, good-hearted citizens are being labeled “homophobic” or worse for daring to publicly defend the traditional understanding of marriage. Those who seek immediate and radical change will argue that defenders of “traditional values” have been worrying about the demise of families and marriage for decades or more. But never has such a broad (not to mention well-funded and well-publicized) assault been waged on so many fronts against what so many hold so basic and so dear on such a wide variety of issues. It becomes more difficult by the day, in such a bleak landscape, to find reasons for hope amid the widespread moral degradation. Christians are called to be the people of hope, as well we should be, but hope is in short supply among many citizens – religious or otherwise – who see the nation’s most cherished institutions crumbling before their eyes under almost daily judicial and legislative barrages by those who would seek complete license to act as they will, without respect or consideration for the greater good of society. And we have not even mentioned cloning, an explosive and dangerous issue which even the most optimistic of moral theologians knows has the potential to wreak utter havoc in a matter of decades upon humanity as we have known it. Let no one misunderstand. We reject, as all Americans must reject, violence or cruelty of any kind against any citizen, heterosexual or homosexual. We support, as all Americans should, equal protection under the law for those same citizens. But no amount of vilification as “homophobic” or worse will ever make millions of Americans believe that the marriage of two men, or two women, should be considered true matrimony in any reasonable sense of the word, if for no other reason that no offspring can result from same-sex marriages. In this era of personal freedoms and “me-first” thinking, the Catholic Church and a variety of other religious denominations must lead the way – as the U.S. bishops have already done in their trailblazing document, “Between a Man and a Woman” – in standing firm against the total societal chaos that can and will ensue should marriage between a man and a woman become merely one option among others. — Lou Jacquet/Editor   Back to Exponent Menu Printer Friendly Page   Other Articles of 2004   Democrats’ consideration of modified abortion stance welcome   Coach’s dismissal gives some insight into America’s psyche   Arafat’s death an opening, but Middle East peace remains elusive   The presidential campaign: ‘A pox on both their houses’?   150,000 and more put aside scandals, embrace beacon of hope   When Catholic schools close, parents must shoulder some of the blame   Jews, Christians respect one another across great divide of faith   Latest ‘civil war’ pits defenders of marriage against courts   Civility in short supply as nation faces a barroom brawl   Catholic publications ‘speak truth to power’ nationwide, up north   Past Articles From 2003