The Irish Reveal the True Motives Behind Same-Sex "Marriage"

Again: We were warned (more than once). The recent vote by the electorate in Ireland provides some of the best evidence yet for what we've been told for over a decade now was likely the main motivation behind the same-sex "marriage" movement.

As Brendan O'Neill noted a few days ago,

"Instead of saying 'We can finally get married', the most common response to the referendum result from both the leaders of the Yes campaign and their considerable army of supporters in the media and political classes has been: 'Gays have finally been validated.' Across the spectrum, from the drag queens who led the Yes lobby to the right-wing politicians who backed them, all the talk was of 'recognition', not marriage. Ireland’s deputy PM Joan Burton said the Yes vote was about 'acceptance in your own country'. Writing in the Irish Examiner, apsychotherapist said 'the referendum was about more than marriage equality… it was about validation and full acceptance [of gay people]'. (Tellingly, Ireland’s psychotherapy industry played a key role in backing the Yes campaign.) PM Enda Kenny also said the referendum was about more than marriage — it was a question of gay people’s 'fragile and deeply personal hopes [being] realised'. Or in the words of novelist Joseph O'Connor, the Yes vote was an act of 'societal empathy' with a section of the population.

"The official Yes campaign went so far as to describe the Yes victory as a boost for the health and wellbeing of all Irish citizens, especially gay ones. A spokespersonsaid 'the effect of legal equality goes beyond the letter of the law… it enters our daily lives and our interaction with others'. In 'embracing' gay people, Ireland had 'improv[ed] the health and wellbeing of all our citizens'. In short, the Yes result made people feel good."

O'Neill is somewhat correct here, but he's neglected one important aspect of the homosexual agenda (whether Ireland, America, or elsewhere). This isn't simply about "validation," or "recognition," or making people "feel good," or the "boosting of esteem." Neither is this about "discrimination." This is an attempt, using the full power of the law, to force the moral legitimization of homosexual behavior upon all who sit under such law. And it is about revenge upon all those—past and present—who have stood, and continue to stand in the way of such "progress." And once such power of the law is obtained, the liberals behind the homosexual agenda will make good use of it. Once again, we were warned.

A decade ago, George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley, a supporter of same-sex "marriage," wrote that, "As states accept same-sex marriage and prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, conflicts will grow between the government and discriminatory organizations. There will be many religious-based organizations that will refuse to hire individuals who are homosexual or members of a same-sex marriage. If those individuals are holding a state license of marriage or civil union, it will result in a discriminatory act that was not only based on sexual orientation, but a lawful state status."

The same year, Doug Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University, and an opponent of gay marriage, said, "Were federal equal protection or substantive due process to be construed to require states to license same-sex marriage, those who have profound moral or religious objection to the social affirmation of homosexual conduct would be argued to be the out-liers of civil society." Therefore, he argues that churches could be targeted for legal penalties and disadvantages as were universities that participated in racial discrimination decades ago. He added that, "This is hardly a far-fetched (idea), as apparently one of the main aspirations of the homosexual movement is retaliation against the defenders of traditional marriage."

Five years later in 2010, after U.S. District Court Judge Vaugn Walker overturned the will of the California people by declaring Proposition 8--which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman--unconstitutional, Dan Brown of the National Organization for Marriage declared that, “The goal of this movement is to use the law to reshape the culture so that disagreement with their views on sex and marriage gets stigmatized and repressed like bigotry.”

Of course, few of us are unaware of the ever-growing long list of those who have suffered the wrath of the "gaystapo" that seeks to enforce the perverse homosexual agenda. Unless the legal tide in favor of homosexuality is stemmed, Christian conservatives and their like-minded political and cultural allies will continue to find themselves on the wrong side of the law in this battle. If nothing else, I suppose we will then find out who's really devoted to the truth.

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Catholic Church

The Irish giving hearty approval to same-sex "marriage," as I took note of in my previous post, is another sign of the sad decline and influence of the modern Catholic Church. It seems that Frank Bruni of The New York Times, at least somewhat, agrees with me.

Though Bruni--the openly homosexual, former restaurant critic turned op-ed columnist (in other words, the typical path to advancement with the liberal media)--frames this decline in much more positive terms than I do, the evidence is unmistakable.

There are now 20 nations that have given legal status to same-sex "marriage." Those include, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, Brazil, France, Uruguay, Luxembourg and Ireland. As Bruni notes, these nations don't share a continent, or a language. "But in all of them, the Roman Catholic Church has more adherents, at least nominally, than any other religious denomination does."

As I noted, as of 2011, over 84% of Ireland identified as Roman Catholic. As Bruni put it,

"Irish voters nonetheless rejected the church’s formal opposition to same-sex marriage. This act of defiance was described, accurately, as an illustration of church leaders’ loosening grip on the country.

"But in falling out of line with the Vatican, Irish people are actually falling in line with their Catholic counterparts in other Western countries, including the United States.

"They aren’t sloughing off their Catholicism — not exactly, not entirely. An overwhelming majority of them still identify as Catholic. But they’re incorporating religion into their lives in a manner less rooted in Rome...in Europe and the Americas in particular, the church is much more fluid than [Rome]. It harbors spiritually inclined people paying primary obeisance to their own consciences, their own senses of social justice. That impulse and tradition are as Catholic as any others." (Emphasis is mine.)

In other words, as was noted last week, such "Catholicism" shows tremendous (if not complete) "indifference" towards truth, sin, salvation, and judgement. In other words, a "fluid church" is no church at all. In fact, and almost certainly unbeknownst to Bruni, a "fluid church" sounds much like a church built on shifting sand instead of solid rock. 

As Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7, 

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

And great has been the fall of the Catholic Church and Mainline Protestant churches, who have abandoned truth in the name of "relevance" and "tolerance."  At least some within the Catholic Church seem to recognize this. Upon the outcome of the Irish vote, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, said he was "deeply saddened by the result." He added, "The church must take account of this reality, but in the sense that it must strengthen its commitment to evangelization. I think that you cannot just talk of a defeat for Christian principles, but of a defeat for humanity."

In other words, the "reality" of the vote in Ireland should be a wake-up call to all who follow Jesus. As more and more are calling good evil, and evil good, it is getting easier and easier to compromise with the truth. The road to eternal life seems to be getting more and more narrow and harder to find, while the path to destruction is attractive, well-lit, wide, and busy with travelers. Do not be deceived!

(Update: Just after posting this, I came across this piece from Joanna Moorhead of The Guardian. Like Bruni, she captures well the liberal worldview when it comes to the church and the truth. In complete contradiction to my take (a "fluid church" is no church at all) on what destroys the church, Moorhead declares, "The gay marriage vote has forced Catholic leaders to face a simple reality: that a church without worshippers wouldn’t be a church at all."

Of course, instead of the "bride of Christ," she sees the church much like a business. Thus, if you want people to continue to come, you must give them what they want, or at least tell them what they want to hear. Because, as she puts it, its time that the church got on board with "what most of us believe, which is that truth and right are more likely to be found in common consensus than in autocratic dictatorship." Because, as we all know, Jesus always looked to what was popular, before He decided what was "truth" and what was "right.")

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

On Marriage, America's Left Should Heed the Irish

As voters in Ireland voted overwhelmingly to approve same-sex "marriage," predictably, liberals across the world, but especially in the U.S., took a "victory lap." Lost in their jubilation, it evidently escaped most liberals the manner by which Ireland hastened herself down the wide path of destruction.

Make no mistake about it, a nation that rejects the oldest institution in the history of humanity, that rejects the foundation upon which EVERY culture rests, that declares motherhood and fatherhood "absurd," is well on its way to an ugly end. However, if a nation, a state, a city, or a tribe, chooses to take such a path, it should do so in the manner of Ireland. The people, not a dictator, not a handful of judges, should decide.

Barely five years ago, marriage as the union of one man and one woman was on a 31 for 31 winning streak with U.S. electorates. The average vote was 67.5% in favor of marriage as God gave it to us. This result included the very liberal electorates of Maine, California, Oregon, and Hawaii. The vast majority of U.S. states which have legalized same-sex "marriage" have done so at the whims of a federal judge. To reverse the overwhelming will of an American electorate in such a manner is the very definition of judicial tyranny.

Also, it cannot be ignored that the same-sex "marriage" vote in Ireland provides further evidence for the continued sad legacy of the modern Catholic Church. As of 2011, over 84% of Ireland identified as Roman Catholic. The waning influence of the Catholic Church on the grave moral issues of our time is shocking. As I've noted, this is yet another tragic result of the rotten influence of modern liberalism.

Again: Marriage is the oldest institution in the history of humanity--older than God's covenant with the nation of Israel, older than The Law, older than the church. Marriage is one of the earliest truths revealed by God. If ANYTHING is true, marriage as the union of one man and one woman is true. On this, there can NEVER be compromise.

Copyright 2015, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor and his wife Michelle are the authors of: Debt Free Living in a Debt Filled World
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com