NOM BLOG

Monthly Archives: August 2010

NOM Founder Prof. Robby George: Keeping Social and Economic Conservatives Together

An excerpt from NOM Founder Professor Robert George’s recent speech on the importance of keeping social and economic conservatives working together:

The moral foundations of economic conservatism are precisely those of social conservatism: respect for the human person, which grounds our commitment to individual liberty; and the right to economic freedom and other essential civil liberties; belief in personal responsibility, which is a precondition of the possibility of moral desirability; individual liberty in every domain; recognition of subsidiary as the basis for effective but truly limited government; respect for the Rule of Law, even against courts which want to act like legislators instead of judges; and recognition of the vital role played by the family in the flourishing of any decent and dynamic society.
 
Full speech, plus some commentary, at Red State

WaPo: New Effort to Oust Iowa Judges

Because as one Des Moines resident at the Iowa State Fair told Bob Vander Plaats about trendy out-of-touch judges seeking to impress the trendy “big boys,” "That's just not Iowa."  Great story, stay tuned for big news from NOM.

Read the whole Washington Post story.

LA Times Columnist: Brown and Schwarzenegger Should Defend Prop 8

George Skelton, long time political columnist for the LA Times writes:

The will of the California electorate is being undermined by Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The voters' rights are being denied.

Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman struck a blow for good government — maybe even scored a political point or two — at a Republican state convention last weekend when she announced that, if elected, she'll defend Proposition 8 in the courts. . . .

      Read more.

Archbishop Chaput Calls for Christians to Resist Intolerance with Truth

Speaking to the Canon Law Association of Slovakia this week, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput called for a robust understanding of religious freedom, criticizing the increasingly anti-Christian intolerance being carried out in the name of tolerance, particularly when it comes to issues of life and marriage. It’s well worth reading the whole thing, but a few high points:

First, “freedom of worship” is not at all the same thing as “freedom of religion.”  Religious freedom includes the right to preach, teach, assemble, organize, and to engage society and its issues publicly, both as individuals and joined together as communities of faith.  This is the classic understanding of a citizen’s right to the “free exercise” of his or her religion in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  It’s also clearly implied in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  In contrast, freedom of worship is a much smaller and more restrictive idea. . . .

In the United States, a nation that is still 80 percent Christian with a high degree of religious practice, government agencies now increasingly seek to dictate how Church ministries should operate, and to force them into practices that would destroy their Catholic identity.  Efforts have been made to discourage or criminalize the expression of certain Catholic beliefs as “hate speech.”  Our courts and legislatures now routinely take actions that undermine marriage and family life, and seek to scrub our public life of Christian symbolism and signs of influence.

In Europe, we see similar trends, although marked by a more open contempt for Christianity. . . . My point is this: These are not the actions of governments that see the Catholic Church as a valued partner in their plans for the 21st century. Quite the opposite.  These events suggest an emerging, systematic discrimination against the Church that now seems inevitable.

*   *   *

A Catholicism of resistance must be based on trust in Christ’s words: “The truth will make you free.”3 This trust gave you insight into the nature of totalitarian regimes. It helped you articulate new ways of discipleship.  Rereading the words of the Czech leader Václav Havel to prepare for this talk, I was struck by the profound Christian humanism of his idea of “living within the truth.”4 Catholics today need to see their discipleship and mission as precisely that: “living within the truth.” . . .

Living within the truth also means telling the truth and calling things by their right names. And that means exposing the lies by which some men try to force others to live.

*   *   *

I suggested earlier that the Church’s religious liberty is under assault today in ways not seen since the Nazi and Communist eras. I believe we are now in the position to better understand why. Writing in the 1960s, Richard Weaver, an American scholar and social philosopher, said: “I am absolutely convinced that relativism must eventually lead to a regime of force.”

He was right. There is a kind of “inner logic” that leads relativism to repression.

This explains the paradox of how Western societies can preach tolerance and diversity while aggressively undermining and penalizing Catholic life. The dogma of tolerance cannot tolerate the Church’s belief that some ideas and behaviors should not be tolerated because they dehumanize us. The dogma that all truths are relative cannot allow the thought that some truths might not be.

The Catholic beliefs that most deeply irritate the orthodoxies of the West are those concerning abortion, sexuality and the marriage of man and woman. This is no accident. These Christian beliefs express the truth about human fertility, meaning and destiny.

These truths are subversive in a world that would have us believe that God is not necessary and that human life has no inherent nature or purpose. Thus the Church must be punished because, despite all the sins and weaknesses of her people, she is still the bride of Jesus Christ; still a source of beauty, meaning and hope that refuses to die -- and still the most compelling and dangerous heretic of the world’s new order. . . .

We live in a time when the Church is called to be a believing community of resistance. We need to call things by their true names. We need to fight the evils we see. And most importantly, we must not delude ourselves into thinking that by going along with the voices of secularism and de-Christianization we can somehow mitigate or change things. Only the Truth can set men free.

Read Archbishop Chaput’s entire speech here.

Reaction to Mehlman: Ken Blackwell – Disaster Looms if GOP Abandons Marriage

Ken Blackwell writes today on same-sex marriage and the GOP:

[S]upporters of same-sex marriage cannot have it both ways. Central to the Republican agenda is that the U.S. Constitution must be interpreted according to its original meaning. If the Constitution must be changed, then we do so democratically through the amendment process. Republicans demand that judges interpret the Constitution as written, not rewrite it from the bench.

The same judicial activism that Judge Walker in San Francisco displayed in declaring a constitutional right to same-sex marriage is the same activism that Republicans decry on every other front. It’s the same activism found in Roe v. Wade, declaring a right to abortion. It’s also the same activism that would uphold Obamacare as constitutional. It’s the same activism that declares foreign terrorists are protected by the Bill of Rights and habeas corpus.

You cannot have it both ways. Do you want to see Obamacare struck down as unconstitutional? Then you can’t have a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

Republican leadership is working hard to prevent a party split. Millions of Tea Party supporters are justifiably fed up with the GOP, and threatening to abandon the GOP in favor of a third party if Republicans do not fully attack out-of-control federal spending and power with a commitment to constitutional government.

That danger cuts both ways.

Social conservatives cannot be played as fools by the Republican Party. They are not “useful idiots.” If Republican leaders abandon social conservatives and the party platform, then they will face the same kind of disaster they could be facing if Tea Partiers abandon the GOP. -- Millions of social conservatives will either stay home, or will vote for a third-party candidate who takes up the mantle of marriage, life, faith and family.

Read more.

NOM Statement in Regard to Ken Mehlman

NOM Chairman Maggie Gallagher issued the following statement this afternoon in regard to Ken Mehlman:

"We respect Ken Mehlman's right to his personal life.  Supporting  gay marriage, however, is a very different and very public matter. The fight over same-sex marriage really isn't about Mr. Mehlman's personal life. Marriage, as a public legal status, is a man and a woman for a reason: It is the only civil institution that brings together the two halves of humanity to ensure the children they create have the best opportunity to be raised by their own mother and father. We will fight all attempts to redefine marriage to be something that it is not -- a genderless, adult-centered sexual relationship centered on the alleged rights of adults and not the needs of children. The American people -- including over 80% of Republicans and even 40% of Democrats -- oppose same-sex marriage.  NOM has already proven in races from New York to California that it is a particularly bad idea for Republicans to support gay marriage. The disconnect in Washington stems from politicans who refuse to pay attention to the values of the people they represent. If Mr. Mehlman wishes to help us elect pro-marriage GOP politicians, we welcome his support. If not, we welcome the victories that will come in the battle that must necessarily ensue."

Brian Brown Responds to Ken Mehlman’s Support for Prop 8 Challenge

In an interview with The Advocate published yesterday, NOM President Brian Brown responded to former RNC head Ken Mehlman’s announcement that he is gay and has decided to raise money to support the legal challenge to California’s Prop 8:

While Mehlman’s Wednesday confessional with The Atlantic certainly wasn’t cause for celebration among prominent anti-gay marriage forces, nor was it seen as further evidence of a conservative party shifting toward a pro-marriage equality position, however slowly.

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, told The Advocate that Mehlman was “abdicating core Republican beliefs” in his support for AFER’s legal effort in challenging Prop. 8. “But it’s never been about the leaders. It’s always been about the people, based on an overwhelming majority of Republican voters -- 85, 86 percent -- who support marriage as a union between a man and a woman,” he said. “That a few folks within the Republican Party are questioning a party platform and have personal positions on same-sex marriage is a reality of political parties. [Mehlman] is no longer a major party leader, so I don’t know how influential he is, to be honest with you.”

Marriage equality advocates, Brown said, are using high-profile conservatives now supporting marriage equality -- from Ted Olson to vice president Dick Cheney -- in order to “create an impression that there is an inevitability to same-sex marriage. The facts strongly go against that idea.”

Brown asserted that the RNC played a limited role in rallying the anti-gay marriage vote during the 2004 presidential elections, when Mehlman served as Bush-Cheney campaign manager. Eleven states passed constitutional amendments banning marriage rights for same-sex couples that year, including Ohio, which gave Bush a margin of victory over Democratic Sen. John Kerry.

“These [amendments] were pushed by people on the state level,” Brown said. “The whole notion that it was some top-down, Machiavellian ploy by the Republican Party is a farce.”

Read more.

Federal Judge Says Public University Can Boot Christian Counseling Student Who Refuses to Help Gay Couples

Augusta State University has come up with a creepily named "remediation" plan – a plan that includes requiring Jennifer Keeton, a graduate student in the counseling program, to attend a Gay Pride parade and write about her feelings. Presumably, if she has the wrong feelings the remediation has not worked.

Keeton has refused, says she cannot morally counsel gay couples on how to keep their relationships together.  A federal judge has just ruled that Keeton has no rights, the university can kick her out.

Read more.

Last UK Catholic Adoption Agency Faces Closure

The new Orwellian world order unfolding on the other side of the pond: Catholic organizations may not "discriminate" based on sexual orientation, but gay groups can to protect their mission. An adoption agency is forced by the government to close.  The sky has not fallen.  But a new civilization is coming to be and its contours are increasingly visible.

A columnist at the Guardian celebrates the new order.

NOM's Chris Plante on Rhode Island radio

The callers were really steamed up about the court decision overturning Prop 8. Listen in.

Texas Bigamy Laws Face New Challenge

Members of the FLDS church have announced plans to challenge the constitutionality of Texas’ anti-bigamy laws.  Read more.

Hadley Arkes: Judge Walker and the Language of Law

Prof. Hadley Arkes, the Ney Professor of Jurisprudence at Amherst College on the intellectual absurdity of saying, as Judge Walker ruled, that  same-sex and opposite-sex couples are identical:

Archeologists of the law may one day come upon these words: “Relative gender composition aside, same-sex couples are situated identically to opposite-sex couples in terms of their ability to perform the rights and obligations of marriage under California law.” Now imagine recasting the sentence in this way: “Relative gender composition aside, same-sex couples are situated identically to opposite-sex couples in terms of their ability to beget children.” The first line was written by federal Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco as he struck down the constitutional amendment passed by the voters of California, a move to restore the traditional understanding of marriage as a legal relation of a man and a woman.  Judge Walker’s argument made sense only if the notion of begetting was conspicuously removed from the very meaning and purpose of marriage. Surely, marriage is not necessary for love: There is genuine love between grandparents and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, and in the nature of things they cannot be lesser loves because they are not attended by penetration and expressed in marriage.

Marriage is not necessary for love, but the law of marriage finds its deep justification as a framework for the begetting and nurturing of children." 

Read more. 

Bay Area Reporter: Let Imperial County Be Heard!

Imperial county is 77 percent Latino, borders Mexico and voted almost 70 percent for Prop 8.  It has asked to be allowed to intervene in the Prop 8 case (especially since San Francisco was allowed to become a party).  A reporter from the Bay Area's KALW News, remarkably urges: Let Imperial county be heard.

Read more.

New Video: Recapping the Marriage Tour and Looking Ahead...

Our video team has just finished a terrific 3-minute video recapping our Summer for Marriage tour and introducing our new emphasis as we head into the fall. I hope you’ll take a moment to watch.

Pulling 3 minutes of highlights from more than 30 hours of footage taken at 23 rallies over the past month is no small task! But so many amazing things happened over the past month that I wanted to be sure that our entire team – including each of you – has a chance to watch and be a part of it.

On August 15th, we wrapped up our month-long Summer for Marriage Tour with an enthusiastic crowd of 300 (and live Internet broadcast) at the Rally for Marriage outside the U.S. Capitol, standing with religious and community leaders in the District to call for the people’s right to vote on marriage.

When we first started out on this month-long journey, we envisioned a series of quiet rallies to energize marriage supporters in key battleground states where marriage is under attack. Little did we know how threatened our opponents would be by our tour. But their protests, all too often characterized by hateful intolerance, only raised the profile of the tour, drawing media attention and new supporters to our cause. I was so proud of our supporters at each of the 23 stops – standing together to celebrate marriage, responding with grace and determination even when gay marriage radicals sought to shout us down, harass and intimidate. Thank you.

TwoMillionforMarriage.com!
One of the purposes of the summer tour was to continue expanding our base of grassroots activists for marriage – we’re already more than 700,000 strong and well on our way toward our goal of identifying and organizing an army of 2 million Americans willing to stand up to protect marriage.

We’ve just re-launched our TwoMillionforMarriage.com website, with a whole new look to make it easy for you to sign the petition to protect marriage, and then share the site with your friends. I hope you’ll visit the site today and tell your friends!

With just over two months left before the November elections, we’re launching a major new initiative to reach out to Americans from every walk of life, in every city, county and state across the nation. The effort will center around the new website, supplemented by radio, TV and internet ads, Facebook, Twitter, direct mail, phone calls and emails, as we use every available avenue to reach out to new supporters.

But the most important part of this new initiative is YOU! If each of us were to tell just two others about the campaign to protect marriage, we’d quickly reach our goal of 2 million Americans standing for marriage. In order to reach our goal even faster, we’re using paid advertising to help spread the word.

So here’s what I’m asking you to do today:

1.     Tell at least two friends who don’t already know about NOM’s work to protect marriage. Ask them to visit TwoMillionforMarriage.com and sign the petition to protect marriage. In fact, we’ve made it easy – just visit TwoMillionforMarriage.com and use the social network tools to share the petition on Facebook, Tweet it, or send emails inviting your friends to sign.

2.     If you’re in a position to give, please consider a gift of $20, $50, or even $100 or more to help get the word out. Your gift helps us reach out into new areas and untapped networks of potential supporters.  Use this link to make your secure online gift today!

Thank you for making our summer tour a success, and for standing with us as we continue building momentum toward November!

-Brian

The Tenth Circuit

All eyes in the media are focused now on the liberal 9th Circuit, which will be considering the Prop 8 case. Meanwhile, two similar cases are now winding their way up through the Tenth Circuit.  The first is a case in Oklahoma, where a gay couple has challenged that state's marriage amendment on federal grounds.  And a new case was just filed in Wyoming, also in the 10th Circuit.

If the 9th Circuit denies standing in the Prop 8 appeal, a 10th Circuit panel will likely be the next deciding judges.

From the Associated Press:

(AP) CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - A gay couple has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Wyoming law that defines marriage as existing only between a man and a woman.

David Shupe-Roderick and Ryan W. Dupree of Cheyenne say the Laramie County Clerk's Office has refused to issue them a marriage license. They're asking U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson to stop the state from enforcing any laws that block gays and lesbians from access to civil marriage.

Read more.