A major focus of Air America’s State of Belief program today was the whole "marriage protection" issue. Clicking the link for Marriage Protection Sunday (who knew? I thought today was special because it was Pentecost!) took me to a page of resources from Rod Parsley’s "Center for Moral Clarity". It included sermon outlines offering suggestions for preachers. Including a portion of one here, just to give you an idea of the helpful coaching one of Ken Blackwell’s biggest supporters is giving to religious leaders, regarding how to convince their congregations of the importance of a Marriage Protection Amendment.
I’ve heard the story about a boy who was almost 3. Typical of his age, the boy was eager to explore. More than a few times over a period of several weeks, he discovered the kitchen knives, both in the drawer that is just above his eye level and in the wooden block on the kitchen counter (which should have been out of his reach but somehow wasn’t).
His parents solved this potentially deadly issue by putting the knives, kitchen scissors and other sharp implements in a plastic tray. They placed the tray on the highest shelf in the kitchen – where even Dad, who was more than six feet tall, had to stretch to bring it down. It wasn’t terribly convenient for the cooks, but the disaster that would have ensued if the little boy had continued access to the kitchen knives called for drastic action. Preventing a tragedy became more important than the parents’ convenience. The parents were more than willing to sacrifice some convenience for the son they love, even though he exasperated them occasionally.
America today is in a similar situation when it comes to those who would tinker with the definition of marriage. Some would do tremendous and permanent damage to our society if marriage was ever allowed to become anything other than what it has always been. The definition of marriage needs to be made inaccessible protected in a place where no one can get to it. In this case, that requires a drastic measure – an amendment to the U.S. Constitution stating the obvious: that marriage is between one man and one woman.
Getting the Federal Marriage Protection Amendment passed will not be convenient, but it is essential for the safety of the institution of marriage.
Funny, I’ve never felt that my own marriage (of almost 19 years) was threatened in any way by the existence of same-sex relationships–or whether such relationships are afforded legal status. But then again, my husband and I would not have ever been allowed to marry in the first place, were it not for the meddling of "activist judges" back in 1967.
