The Religious Right’s Full Page Denunciation of the United States Constitution

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As theocracy arrives in North Carolina and Michigan, the Religious Right, going with its penchant for hyperbolic full-page ads in major newspapers, publicly announced last week that if forced to choose between Bible and Constitution, the Constitution will lose.

Then, almost as though begging us to laugh at them, they used their various propaganda organs like the Tea Party, The Catholic Beat, Christian Examiner, World Net Daily, and so forth, to announce how heroic and great they are for putting their unconstitutional AND unbiblical beliefs on full display.

The ad, which took the form of an open letter to the Supreme Court, appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, and in other papers, offered us the voice of all the usual suspects – Franklin Graham, James Dobson, Frank Pavone, Don Wildmon, Jerry Boykin, Alveda King and Alan Keyes:

“We will not honor any decision by the Supreme Court which will force us to violate a clear biblical understanding of marriage as solely the union of one man and one woman.”

Wow, that would be great but these folks have demonstrated their lack of a biblical understanding of marriage, because there is very little in the way of examples of biblical marriages that are between one man and one woman.

We have:

Man + woman where bride proves her virginity or is stoned to death (Genesis 2:24); we have man + woman + concubines (Judges 19:1-30); we have man + woman + woman, the most common form of biblical marriage – polygyny (Deuteronomy 21:15-17); we have rapist + victim (Deuteronomy 22:28-29); we have son-less widow + closest male relative (Gen. 38:6-10); we have male soldier + prisoner of war (Numbers 31:1-18, Deuteronomy 21:11-14; we even have male slave + female slave (Exodus 21:4) and man + woman + woman’s female slave (Gen. 16:1-6, Gen. 30:4-5)

I’m out of breath and I still haven’t found 1 man + 1 woman.

The irony here is that it is they wrote to the Supreme Court. The United States Constitution that they say is superseded by the Bible, establishes the authority of the Supreme Court. Therefore, if you think so little of the Constitution, why write to the Supreme Court, and then just tell the justices that if they don’t do what you want, you’re going to ignore them anyway?

Shouldn’t they be writing to the Sanhedrin? Or whining to the Pope?

Well, because they love grandstanding. Here – in full – is how the heroic resisters traitors framed their belief that the Bible supersedes the Constitution of the United States:

We the undersigned have joined together to present our unified message and plea to the Justices of the United States Supreme Court regarding the matter of marriage.

We are Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian pastors, clergy, lay leaders and Jewish leaders, who collectively represent millions of people in our specific churches, parishes, denominations, synagogues and media ministry outreaches. Marriage transcends our various theological differences and unites us together in one voice.

We affirm that any judicial opinion which purports to redefine marriage will constitute an unjust law, as Martin Luther King Jr. described such laws in his letter from the Birmingham Jail. We are Christians who love America and who respect the legitimate rule of law.

However, we will not honor any decision by the Supreme Court which will force us to violate a clear biblical understanding of marriage as solely the union of one man and one woman.

We affirm that Marriage, as existing solely between one man and one woman, precedes civil government. Though affirmed, fulfilled, and elevated by faith, the truth that marriage can exist only between one man and one woman is not based solely on religion but on the Natural Law, written on the human heart.

We implore this Court to not step outside of its legitimate authority and unleash religious persecution and discrimination against people of faith. We will be forced to choose between the state and our conscience, which is informed by clear biblical and church doctrine and the natural created order.

On this choice, we must pledge obedience to our Creator. While there are many things we can endure, any attempt to redefine marriage is a line we cannot and will not cross.

Here they are pushing their sectarian beliefs – the same sectarian beliefs denounced by the Founding Fathers, by the way – the same Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution they now insist has ZERO validity.

Sounds to me like these guys –

James Dobson, Family Talk; Franklin Graham, President and CEO Billy Graham Evangelistic Association; Robert Jeffress, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Dallas; Jerry Johnson, President and CEO, National Religious Broadcasters Association; Gregg Matte, pastor, Houston’s First Baptist Church; Penny Nance, President, Concerned Women for America; Paige Patterson, President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life, Staten Island, NY; Pastor Steve Riggle, Grace Church, Houston; James Robinson, LIFE Outreach International; Don Wildmon, Founder and Chairman, American Family Association; Tim Wildmon, President, American Family Association.

Need to find themselves a new country, one where the Bible is the Founding document rather than the Constitution. You see here, power derives from the hands of the people, not from God. The people have assigned to the Supreme Court, via the United States Constitution, to decide these matters.

You won’t find God in the Constitution. So If you want a place where you tell everybody what God wants and then force everybody else to listen to you, you’re in the wrong country.

Adios. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

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Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen's Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.

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