May 10, 2006
Column #1,289
Advance for May 13, 2006
Why Black Clergy Oppose Same-Sex Marriage
by Michael J. McManus
In June Congress will vote on a Marriage Protection Amendment which states,
"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a
woman..."
To gays this seems discriminatory because it would deny "same-sex marriages"
recently legalized in Massachusetts. Interestingly, the denominations which have
led the battle for the Marriage Amendment are African-American - the African
Methodist Episcopal Church and the Church of God in Christ. Two years later
Catholic Bishops joined the cause.
"It is inaccurate to say gays are discriminated against," argues Bishop Harry R.
Jackson Jr., an African-American whose Hope Christian Church recently hosted a
Marriage Summit in support of the amendment. "It is a manipulative ploy to work
on the sympathy of the nation.
"I think they are attempting to ride on the coattails of the most successful
Civil Rights Movement in American history led by the Rev. Martin Luther King. It
is a way to ennoble their struggle. It is not accurate at all to say they are
discriminated against. I believe the gay lifestyle is at some level a choice.
People do not know you are gay, unless you tell them. That is unlike being an
African-American, which you cannot hide. Your skin pigment is dark or it is
not."
Matt Daniels, founder of the Alliance for Marriage, which leads the lobbying for
the amendment, asserts, "Americans believe that gays and lesbians have a right
to live as they choose, but they don't have a right to redefine marriage for our
entire society."
However, gays have filed law suits which have reached the Supreme Courts of
Washington state and New Jersey that could declare "same-sex marriage" legal in
those states.
In an attempt to head off such judicial activism, 19 states have passed
amendments to state constitutions to limit marriage to one man and one woman.
Others will do so this fall. Many were passed by ballot referenda by wide
margins. However, even the Nebraska amendment, with a 70 percent vote, was
declared unconstitutional by a federal judge.
Experts on both sides of the issue believe that if the issue were to come before
the current U.S. Supreme Court, same-sex marriage would be legalized.
Why is that a danger to America?
Now that Canada has legalized same-sex marriage, its Justice Department
commissioned several studies that call for decriminalizing polygamy, the
marriage of one man to two or more women and possibly polyamory, marriage of
three or more persons of any gender to one another.
As Stanley Kurtz wrote in "The Weekly Standard," "If everything can be marriage,
pretty soon nothing will be marriage. Legalize gay marriage, followed by
multi-partner marriage and pretty soon the whole idea of marriage will be
meaningless."
Bishop Jackson observes, "The foundation of marriage is being broken. The black
community has crossed the threshold into urban family disintegration...Swedish
and Dutch attempts to give all of the rights of marriage to same-sex couples has
resulted in a disintegration that tragically mirror the black community (in the
U.S.).
"Out-of-wedlock births escalated dramatically. In Sweden they went from 47% of
births to 55% in ten years. In the Netherlands unwed births went from 19 percent
to 31 percent in only six years. They did the same thing that it took slavery,
poverty and sexual irresponsibility to do in the black community. I can't help
but think of the generational effect of fatherlessness. Broken marriage and
non-marriage are producing our problems of crime, addiction, promiscuity.
What solutions does he suggest?
"1. Pastors must preach a compelling vision of marriage and a satisfying family
life and we must model it.
"2. Christian singles should be encouraged to marry earlier." He noted that many
are marrying in their late 20's, "while biologically your body is at a peak from
late teens through early 20's. Yet we tell them to do nothing about this. Their
body is screaming at them and they don't think they can pull off this thing
called marriage."
Bishop Jackson married Michele when he was 23 and a student at Harvard Business
School. Thirty years later he describes the joy of "building dreams together"
and "building history for the longevity of marriage."
He acknowledged that the younger generation has trouble with that message, so he
has been more blunt about how blacks can "heal the father wound" of growing up
without a father: "Many of you women have to close your legs."
St. Paul put it more delicately to the Corinthians: "Flee sexual immorality."
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