God save America

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This Fourth of July it might be time to amend the traditional patriotic song and sentiment of “God bless America.” In recent years, America has become so divorced from godly values that it now seems mocking and irreverent to seek his blessing. It might be more appropriate to prostrate ourselves and seek his forgiveness.

The most recent rejection of God is the wave of gay marriage laws sweeping the nation. Twenty years ago, gay marriage was unheard of. Denmark passed a gay partnership law in 1989, but same-sex marriage did not exist legally until 2000 when the Netherlands first passed a gay marriage law. In what would become a familiar theme, gay marriage was legalized in Canada the next year after two gay couples sued. In the U.S., Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2004, again after a lawsuit. In 2007, Iowa followed suit, again after the state’s marriage law was struck down by courts. Gay marriage did not pass through the legislative process until 2009 when Vermont’s legislature approved the redefinition of marriage. At this point, gay marriage is legal in twelve states, but recent Supreme Court decisions indicate that the Court will probably strike down state definition of marriage laws in the near future.

One of the few truly scientific studies that has been done on the radical changes to the structure of society’s most basic unit, the family, is the New Family Structures Study of 2012. The study reported that gay families are much less stable than comparable heterosexual families. The instability leads to many negative effects in children including being “more apt to report being unemployed, less healthy, more depressed, more likely to have cheated on a spouse or partner, smoke more pot, had trouble with the law, and report… more sexual victimization.”

In the New Testament, particularly Romans 1, homosexuality is described, not as an unpardonable sin, but as a consequence of judgment. Paul wrote that homosexuality is one of the consequences of a society that rejects God. Homosexuality is not the only result of judgment, however. Paul’s roll call of depravities reads like a list of twenty-first century special interest groups:

“…filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
The issue of abortion has also seen setbacks in recent years. President Obama’s signature piece of legislation, the Affordable Care Act, was billed by Life News as “the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.” The ACA, “Obamacare,” mandates that all insurance policies cover abortifacient drugs without copayments. The ACA also ignores the Hyde Amendment that once prohibited federal tax money from being used for abortion. Together with federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, Obamacare means that the United States government is in the business of funding and encouraging abortions.

Abortion was at the forefront in the trial of Kermit Gosnell. Although the trial of the Philadelphia abortionist was largely ignored by the media, the news of how Gosnell and his staff allowed babies to be born only to murder them in cold blood spread around the country via social networks. Gosnell was found guilty of three counts of first degree murder as well as a number of other charges. An estimated 50 million Americans have been aborted since the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973.

Also in 2013, Colorado became the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. The use of the drug is being normalized in spite of the fact that there are clear links between marijuana use and schizophrenia and aggression. Writing in the Wall St. Journal, Samuel Wilkinson of the Yale School of Psychiatry points out that heavy users of marijuana who start at a young age have a 200 percent increased risk for schizophrenia, which affects more than three million Americans. About one third of homeless Americans are schizophrenics.

The expansion of abortion and homosexuality corresponds to attacks on religion in spite of the First Amendment. Christian teaching on these issues is being called “offensive” by liberal activists. Members of the Obama Administration talk of “freedom of worship” rather than “freedom of religion.” What this means in practice is that religion, specifically the Christian religion, is being driven underground. Advocates of traditional marriage or pro-life causes can have their jobs threatened or be forced to attend sensitivity training. Christian businesses are sued if they refuse to supply their services to gay weddings, even in states where gay marriage is not legal. In New Jersey, a Methodist church has already been sued – and lost – for refusing to rent their facility to a lesbian couple for their same-sex union.

The fundamental problems with America today are rooted in the decline of Christianity and the corresponding rise of government. The beginning of the decline of American marriage in the 1960s is clearly visible on a Heritage Foundation graph. A separate graph shows the simultaneous rise of out-of-wedlock children at the same time. Both correspond to the “Great Society” programs of President Johnson in which the federal government began to take responsibility for caring for the poor and children away from families, churches, and charities. Unsurprisingly, the federal debt began a meteoric rise at the same time.

At the same time, American church attendance fell sharply. Gallup reports that in 1955 U.S. church attendance over the past week was at 75 percent. Now, even though 78 percent of Americans identify as Christian, only 43 percent attend church regularly. Consequently, many American Christians are ignorant about the doctrines of their professed faith, leaving them open to pseudo-Biblical arguments for liberal policies.

These social trends mean that out-of-wedlock births now account for almost half of U.S. births. The average age of a woman at her first marriage is 26.5 years while the average age at her first childbirth is 25.7 according to CBS News. This is causing a rise in single-parent families that poses dire consequences for the United States because these families are much more likely to live in poverty and require government financial assistance than traditional families. There are also negative effects on the children of single-parent families, such as being more likely to be abused and more likely to become involved in violent crime, drug abuse, and premarital sex according to the National Fatherhood Initiative. The cycle repeats as children of broken homes grow up to have their own children, often in single-parent homes as a result of premarital sex or divorce, and the dependency on government entitlement programs becomes more pronounced.

It may already be too late to reverse America’s decline. Jonathan Cahn, author of “the Harbinger,” believes that recent history, from the Sept. 11 attacks to the economic crash, are warnings from God and that America is running out of time for repentance. Cahn pointed out to Examiner that the “macro pictures of end-time prophecy” do not include America. The current series of “harbinger” warnings “fill in the gap with specific detail” as to how America will “lose its crown as the head of nations” although Cahn is careful not to commit to a specific timeline.

Last year, no less a man of God than Billy Graham published a letter to America in which he wrote, “My heart aches for America and its deceived people…. The farther we get from God, the more the world spirals out of control.” Graham related how his wife Ruth had exclaimed, “If God doesn’t punish America, he’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” Nevertheless, Graham also points out, “The wonderful news is that our Lord is a God of mercy, and He responds to repentance.”

Later in the year, Graham ran ads that urged Americans “to vote for those who protect the sanctity of life and support the biblical definition of marriage between a man and a woman. Vote for biblical values this November 6, and pray with me that America will remain one nation under God.” For his involvement in politics, Graham’s ministries were targeted by the Internal Revenue Service.

America is at a crossroads. Either our country will continue to reject God and continue to decline or we will seek his forgiveness and begin the process of repentance. The process of turning America around begins with individuals. Even if the country faces the ultimate judgment, individuals can be saved. As Jonathan Cahn said in his interview with Examiner, “We all live in the face of judgment.  And the time to repent, to be saved, and to get right with God . . . is now.”
Originally published on Examiner.com:

Effect of Obama's DOMA decision

President Clinton signed the DOMA into law, but has since changed his mind.

The Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996 to broad bipartisan support.  In the Senate, the bill passed by a margin of 85 – 14.  Both of Georgia’s senators, Republican Paul Coverdell and Democrat Sam Nunn voted for passage of the bill.  In the House, the vote was 342 – 67.  House Democrats voted for the bill by a margin of 118 – 65.  John Lewis was the only member of Georgia’s delegation to oppose the bill.  The bill was signed into law by President Clinton.

The Defense of Marriage Act is a short law, especially when compared to the gargantuan health care reform law.  It has only two parts.  The first part says that states are not required to recognize same-sex marriage performed in other states.  The second part says that, with respect to federal law, the word “spouse” only refers to a “person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife.”  In summary, this means that states would not be forced into accepting gay marriage because other states had legalized it or because a judge had misinterpreted federal law to read that “spouse” could mean a same-sex couple.  Note that the law does not single out gay couples.  It merely limits them to the same choices of a marriage partner that heterosexual couples have; namely, a partner of the opposite sex.

The current case stems from two rulings by Judge Joseph Tauro of the US District Court in Boston.  One suit, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, was filed by GLAD, while the other, Massachusetts v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, was filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.  In both cases, Judge Tauro ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional.  Coakley subsequently lost the Massachusetts senatorial election in 2010 to Scott Brown. 

The next step was for the Supreme Court to review the cases.  Normally, the Justice Department would act in defense of federal law.  However, on February 23, 2010, Attorney General Holder issued a memo stating that “the President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA… is therefore unconstitutional.” 

The problem with this line of reasoning is that the president does not have the authority to decide whether a law in unconstitutional.  That is the role of the courts.  The job of the executive branch, headed by the president, is to enforce the laws passed by Congress and defend them if they are challenged in court.  That responsibility applies to all laws, not just the ones the president happens to agree with.

President Obama’s decision is a blatant attempt to divert attention from his mismanagement of the economy.  His stimulus programs have failed to spur economic growth at the cost of trillions of dollars in debt.  His health care reform is a disaster of increasing costs and regulation.  President Obama added more to the federal debt in 19 months than all other US presidents from Washington to Reagan.  Since he cannot stand on his record to an electorate that is increasingly angry about federal debt and spending, Obama must distract them.  A social issue like gay marriage is a divisive one that has the potential to reinvigorate the Democratic base.

If the Justice Department does not defend DOMA in court, the odds are that at least section 3 the law will be struck down.  Section 3 holds that federal law defines marriage as between a man and a woman.  If this section is ruled unconstitutional, the immediate result will be more lawsuits.  Gay couples married in gay marriage states will file suit for a myriad of things, from the right to file joint tax returns to obtaining federal benefits for same-sex spouses.  If the entire law is struck down, traditional marriage states can be required to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Once gay marriage is law on the federal level, the battle would move back to the states.  In all, twenty-seven states have some sort of constitutional amendment defining marriage.   Several other states have laws defining marriage that are not part of the state constitution bringing the total of defense of marriage states to thirty-nine.  Only seven states have laws permitting same-sex marriage.  In most cases, this has been by judicial decree rather than by popular or legislative vote.  Georgia’s defense of marriage amendment was passed in 2004 by a margin of 76 – 24%.  This indicates that the will of the people from all across the country is that traditional marriage be maintained.

Georgia’s marriage amendment has already been challenged.  It was overturned by a lower court in 2006, but eventually upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court.  Even though the law is on secure footing with respect to state laws and courts, a repeal of the federal DOMA could open the way for challenges in federal court.  It could become more difficult to defend Georgia’s law if full marital rights and benefits are conveyed by federal law.

Already, a federal court has overturned California’s defense of marriage amendment.  If California’s law is ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court, it could have the effect of striking down all state marriage amendments as well.  Governor Schwarzenegger’s justice department declined to defend California’s law in court as well, but proponents of the law may be allowed to defend it.

Currently, it seems that the tide is moving in favor of the eventual legalization of gay marriage regardless of the will of the majority of the people.  Proving that elections have far reaching consequences, politicians who personally favor gay marriage are declining to fulfill their responsibility in defending the law.  This makes it likely that Georgia will eventually be forced to recognize gay marriage under the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution or through a federal court ruling that strikes down all state defense of marriage amendments. 

 

The one chance to prevent this outcome is for Georgians to vote for candidates who will support a defense of marriage amendment to the US Constitution.  President Obama, Attorney General Holder and the Supreme Court might also listen if citizens contact them to voice opposition to gay marriage.  Ultimately it will take more than Georgians to defeat the assault on marriage since the attack originates from outside of our state.  

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