Conviction Friction

Striking down Michigan’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman noted, “Many Michigan residents have religious convictions whose principles govern the conduct of their daily lives and inform their own viewpoints about marriage. Nonetheless, these views cannot strip other citizens of the guarantees of equal protection under the law.”

It is stunning that these federal judges continue to parrot the “equal protection under the law” nonsense when it comes to homosexuality. For nearly 200 years, and without any Constitutional conflictions or any serious debate, homosexual behavior in America was seen as immoral and therefore illegal.

Each of the original 13 colonies treated homosexuality as a serious criminal offense. It is also noteworthy that the due process clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments (the Fourteenth Amendment—containing the “Equal Protection” clause—being ratified in 1868) did nothing to prevent all 50 U.S. states, including each state that entered the union after 1868, from enacting laws against homosexual behavior. Even as recently as 1961, sodomy was a felony in every state in the U.S.

In other words, many federal judges today are discovering “rights” favoring homosexuals (especially concerning marriage) that went heretofore unnoticed in the U.S. for over two centuries. And yes, just like tens-of-millions of Americans across the U.S., many Michigan residents’ views on marriage stem from strong religious “convictions.” In fact, similar “convictions” led to the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and thus, the very forming of the United States.

Every law that exists is rooted in some “conviction” concerning what is right and what is wrong. The supporters of same-sex marriage, and the courts favoring them, are also operating from certain “convictions.” All that needs to be decided is whose “convictions” are going to form the basis for U.S. law: those rooted in absolute truth or those rooted in the “wisdom” of mankind.

Copyright 2014, Trevor Grant Thomas

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