May
16, 2012
Column #1,603
Religious Leaders Mobilize Against Obama
By
Mike McManus
Black
clergy are mobilizing to defeat Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
“Some
African Americans are being called `Uncle Toms’ because they disagree
with him on matters of principle,” said Bishop Harry Jackson on the Sean
Hannity Show this week.
“Marriage is the issue that will make (black) opinion shift. Next week
we are bringing African American leaders to Washington to draw a line in
the sand and make him accountable.”
Jackson
is Pastor of Hope Christian Church in the Washington D.C. area, and
leads the International Communion of Evangelical Churches, a group of
black urban churches who speak out on issues of justice. He also has a
Harvard Masters in Business Administration, is author of award-winning
books and led a losing fight against same-sex marriage (SSM) in
Washington – and is a Democrat.
“We have
been called Neanderthals and `hatred-filled,’ but are taking a common
sense approach to a very serious problem in our culture – the
disintegration of family and marriage,” he asserted.
As
recently as 1970, two-thirds of blacks were married, but now only about
a third. Result: 72% of black births are to unmarried women. Gay
marriage won’t help.
Another
black opponent of SSM on Hannity was Herman Cain, who said Obama “has
doubled down on this issue. He has put Congress on notice that he wants
to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.”
Cain cited recent
polls showing that “25% of people are less likely to vote for him for
his stance on this issue, while only 10% say `Hip, Hip Hooray.’ That 15%
differential will be important in a tight race. That will be a
difference-maker.”
Dr. Richard Land,
President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission,
told me: “If it had not been for blacks supporting Proposition 8 in
California, it would have lost. African Americans carried it over the
top.” Prop 8 passed by a 52-48 margin while Obama crushed McCain by
26%.
Land predicted the
issue will also motivate whites to oppose Obama. “Marriage is the only
issue that will unify Southern Baptists greater than abortion unifies
Southern Baptists, and nine out of ten are pro-life.” He said Baptists
played a “huge part” in passing a one-man, one-woman amendment to the
North Carolina Constitution last week by a big 61-39 margin.
Rev. Galen Carey,
Vice President of the National Association of Evangelicals, asserted,
“We don’t think marriage should be re-defined. It is not adding a
benefit to marriage. All children deserve to have a mother and father.”
He acknowledged that
there are people in both parties who support same-sex marriage,
including a fourth of young evangelicals who “have no problem with
same-sex marriage, though the vast majority hold to the traditional
view.”
I live in Maryland
where our legislature voted to legalize same-sex marriage. I testified
against it three times. Recently, I put my computer aside and became
trained as a volunteer to gather signatures for a referendum so that we
might overturn the law.
To my surprise, when
I called ten churches near my home to organize a meeting of clergy to
ask if I might train volunteers to gather petitions of registered voters
– only two Catholic churches agreed to help. One pastor whom I’ve known
for three decades, replied, “Mike, you can have your meeting here, but
we will not allow tables to be put up.” An Orthodox priest said, “We
are opposed to same-sex marriage, but we don’t want to mix politics with
religion.”
I felt like quoting
James’ admonition, “Faith without deeds is dead.”
My column last week
began, “Obama has just made himself a one-term President by telling ABC,
“I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
Jennifer wrote she
was “disgusted” by my column. “Being gay is not a choice…YOU are writing
about discrimination, hatred and unfairness. You are a BULLY who is
against gay Americans.”
I replied that I
knew many formerly gay people who are now happily married after decades
of living in the homosexual culture. “In fact, there are a couple of
hundred organizations helping gays and lesbians out of that lifestyle,
associated with Exodus International.” I referred her to studies
reporting that half of gays are able to change.
“A major purpose of
marriage is to give each child a married mother and father to bring them
up.” I could have added that most gays are not interested in marriage.
Less than a tenth of gays have married in Massachusetts where SSM has
been legal since 2004.
Committed Christians
will carry the day.
Copyright © 2012
Michael J. McManus is a syndicated columnist and past president of Marriage Savers.
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