Last Sunday we heard one of the
creation accounts from Genesis, in which God created woman from Adam’s rib, and
Adam declares that she is “bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh.” Then the author of Genesis proclaims: “That is why a man leaves his father and
mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.” (Genesis
2:23-24) In the gospel, when Jesus is
asked about divorce, He quotes this passage from Genesis, saying: “But from the
beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one
flesh. Therefore what God has joined
together, no human being must separate.” (Mark 10: 7-8)
This describes God’s plan for the
perpetuation of humanity and it is inscribed in the biological design of our
human bodies. There is only one way in
which a human child can be conceived and brought into the world, and this is by
the joining of a man and woman, each donating themselves to the marital act of
becoming one flesh, so that new life
can be procreated. This is the very
definition of marriage: male and female, joining together as one in order to
form a family. Nature itself makes it
obvious that two men or two women, no matter what romantic feelings they have
for one another, cannot become one flesh,
nor participate in procreation. Any
attempt to do so, defies nature. To call
such a relationship a marriage is like calling day, night, and denies the
reality of our bodies. In his Theology of the Body, St. John Paul
II goes into great length describing the beauty and purpose of the conjugal
act, and the love of man and woman that forms the basis of their relationship,
centered on the ‘gift of self’ each makes to the other. But is doesn’t end here. This joining of man and woman is meant to be
permanent, because it is the basis of forming a family in which children are raised
by their father and mother, secure in the knowledge that the family will love,
protect, nurture, and guide them into maturity.
It has been understood for millennia that this definition of the family
forms the basis for civil society.
Children need both father and mother in their lives to learn what it
means to love, respect, and contribute to the family and to society at
large. This is precisely why marriage
has been protected and encouraged in civil society. It has been well-understood that the family
is the basic unit of society, and contributes immensely to the common good.
Science can now accomplish human
fertilization artificially, but it still requires male and female cells when
performed in a lab, and every child, including those conceived in a test tube,
or carried by a surrogate mother, still has a biological father and
mother. These children, like every other
child, have a basic human right to be raised by both of their biological
parents. Sadly, many children are
abandoned by one parent or the other, but study after study reveals that
children raised by both father and mother, fare far better than those raised by
a single parent, or two ‘parents’ of the same sex. Simply put, God’s plan for the care and
nurturing of children, the natural plan, if you will, is for
children to be raised by both father and mother, providing the safety,
security, and example of how to live a responsible, moral, and purposeful
life. Social science has studied the
family for decades and has revealed that children raised by a single parent are
far more likely to live in poverty, fail to complete their education, and less
likely to marry themselves, perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Children raised by couples of the same sex
are similarly disadvantaged. They may be
loved of course, but lack the example and guidance and love of one of their
biological parents.
The law of the land has now redefined
marriage as the right of any two people with romantic feelings toward one
another to be married, with complete disregard for the facts of nature and
human biology, and at the same time ignoring the right of children to be raised
by both of their biological parents.
Moreover, these same laws demand that if requested, every one of us must
participate in that marriage ceremony.
Florists, bakers, photographers, wedding planners, and county clerks
have all been sued, fined, punished, and in one case, imprisoned, for refusing
to participate in gay marriage ceremonies on the basis of their religious
conviction. Opposition to these changes
has been weak and futile because legislators and the electorate itself are
afraid of offending gay couples and being labeled as intolerant. Politicians and even some of the protestant
clergy hide behind the notion gay people are entitled to happiness, and they
act as marriage is nothing more than the acknowledgement of romantic feelings
and commitments. But they ignore the
very definition of the marital act and the rights of children, as well as the
common good of society, which has a vested interest in children who are the
future of humanity. In effect, they are
condoning a lie based on the very nature of our bodies and the needs of
children to be raised by parents of both sexes.
This perversion of our sexuality,
making it something nature never intended it to be, is but one more step down
the slippery slope of sin. Even Freud,
who was a radical progressive, warned that when sex is separated from
procreation, all manner of perversions come into play. The lie that pornography and prostitution are
victimless crimes, ignores the damage it does to people addicted to it, and the
harmful effects such a selfish approach to sex has on relationships and human
dignity. In the case of prostitution, it
also contributes to the worldwide pandemic of human trafficking which is
largely ignored by the media. As a
society, we have come to value absolute human freedom so much that most people
believe everyone is entitled to pursue happiness in their own way, unencumbered
by traditional social mores which were meant to preserve and promote the common
good. The collateral damage of abandoning the
traditional morality of Christianity includes the breakdown of marriage, an
increase in poverty, and the people most affected are children, the very future
of civil society.
This fight over the definition of
marriage is only beginning. Religious
freedom is under attack in America and we will soon be seeing lawsuits against
religious organizations, in an attempt to force them to accede to the LGBT
agenda, just like our current Justice Department is already attempting to force
religious organizations to pay for contraceptives and abortion-inducing
drugs. But the courts and our
Progressive government officials have gotten it wrong. They are undermining the common good and
inflicting damage on children and future generations, in the name of absolute individual
autonomy, while ignoring the consequences of abandoning the moral underpinnings
of society. It is time for all
Christians to stand up for the truth, and boldly speak about the reality of
what constitutes a REAL marriage and family.
Every person should be treated with dignity, respect, and love,
including homosexuals, but we can and must do so without redefining marriage
and undermining the rights of children and jeopardizing future generations.
