American Catholics Call All To Defend Marriage And Reject Notions Of Bigotry
In a Jan 12th, 2011 release, the American Conference Of Catholic Bishops released a statement calling on all Christians and all people to defend the traditional views of marriage as being between one man and one woman as well as reject the notion commonly promoted by the homosexual extremists that those who oppose gay marriage are bigoted. Outlining the problem as being beyond the Catholic Church and its agenda, the latter part of the statement said:
"For example, in New Jersey, the state cancelled the tax-exempt status of a Methodist-run boardwalk pavilion used for religious services because the religious organization would not host a same-sex "wedding" there. San Francisco dropped its $3.5 million in social service contracts with the Salvation Army because it refused to recognize same-sex "domestic partnerships" in its employee benefits policies.Similarly, Portland, Maine, required Catholic Charities to extend spousal employee benefits to same-sex "domestic partners" as a condition of receiving city housing and community development funds.
In short, the refusal of these religious organizations to treat a same-sex sexual relationship as if it were a marriage marked them and their members as bigots, subjecting them to the full arsenal of government punishments and pressures reserved for racists. These punishments will only grow more frequent and more severe if civil "marriage" is redefined in additional jurisdictions. For then, government will compel special recognition of relationships that we the undersigned religious leaders and the communities of faith that we represent cannot, in conscience, affirm. Because law and government not only coerce and incentivize but also teach, these sanctions would lend greater moral legitimacy to private efforts to punish those who defend marriage."
In essence the statement introduces the notion that the government, by redefining marriage, as President Obama has committed and vowed to do, vicariously become agents supporting religious discrimination. In
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