Kellie Fiedorek is litigation counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom and wrote last week in Town Hall in conjunction with National Marriage Week:
Many of us will recall the song from Sesame Street that begins, “One of these things is not like the other.” The song conveyed to viewers that not everything, or every relationship, is the same; we have different capabilities and purposes.
The government routinely sings this song as it recognizes and seeks to support certain relationships based on their uniqueness, their distinctive purpose, or their benefit to society.
One such relationship that is unlike any other is marriage.
Marriage is the unique relationship between a man and a woman—a relationship recognized throughout human history and by diverse cultures and faiths. Marriage distinguishes itself from any other because it unites the distinct and uniquely wonderful differences of men and women to bring forth and nurture society’s next generation.
While many relationships exist, the union of a man and a woman is unlike any other as no other relationship joins its participants as one united whole to create a new person. No other relationship is similarly situated in this special way.
6 Comments
Spot on.
I would also implore people to read this article by Harry R Jackson Jr
http://townhall.com/columnists/harryrjacksonjr/2013/02/18/gay-marriage-advocates-lose-by-winning-n1514961/page/2
While I think that everyone people can agree that gay marriage should never be allowed in a DECENT society, I don't like the approach of this story. My sister and brother-in-law cannot have children. They have prayed, suffered, cried and agonized over that terrible, horrible, fact. It weighs heavily on them all the time. But I see no reason why we shouldn't consider them married in GOD'S eyes and for all time. Do I have this wrong?
CRSmith, the point is that the male/female coupling is the only pairing that has the potential for creating children. Some marriages do not produce children, of course, but it's the only pairing that can.
Your sister and brother-in-law are certainly married. Their marriage follows the ideal model, even though they're unable to have children.
Thank you for that clarification, Barb. I wish the author of this article had been as careful as you are to make that point. I wish others would be more careful, because it so hurtful to compare my family to the gays.
CRSmith - I don't think anyone would consider your sister and brother-in-law to not be married. As one who grew up in a family of 9 children, I would never think of couples with two or no children to be any less married than my parents. The Lord's ways are not our ways. The Lord is mystery. I take issue with your continued use of the term DECENT to describe those who oppose marriage equality in contrast to those who support it. No side has a monopoly on decency. There are good and bad on both sides. Do not belittle your gay brothers and sisters in the Lord.
I thought this part of the article was particularly good. It's especially relevant to CRSmith's comment:
"Even childless marriages further the government’s interest in marriage. The state is concerned with not only joining together mothers and fathers for the good of their children, but also with preventing situations where children are raised without their mother or father. When a man and a woman commit to marry, even if their relationship does not produce children, their presumed sexual exclusivity limits the odds that either of them will bring a child into this world that is raised without his mother or father."