The Supreme Court and Why Marriage Matters

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday about whether states can legally choose to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. It is a defining moment in our nation’s history. Though marriage between a man and a woman has existed since the beginning, this time-honored institution is under fire. For nearly twenty years the debate has raged. Before federal judges began to overturn marriage laws, 30 states had protected normative marriage. Now the High Court is poised to decide for us all.

I have spoken and written on why marriage defined as the union of one man and woman matters as a social construct. But for Christians, marriage is not just another culture war issue. We know that it is not possible for our government to actually redefine what God has defined from eternity. Marriage is about more than a license registered at a courthouse. Marriage is about the benefit for society and the common good, but it is also the symbol of the union of Christ and the Church. Without a Christian vision of marriage, we have no accurate vision of the gospel.

Normative marriage should not be treated as if it were an institution of a bygone era standing in the way of supposed progress. Religious leaders from various faith communities have affirmed their commitment to promote and defend marriage—the union of one man and one woman. They proclaim that marriage is the foundation of the family where a child is raised by a father and mother.

In a statement last Thursday, An Open Letter from Religious Leaders on Marriage and Religious Freedom, the leaders stated, “The state has a compelling interest in maintaining marriage as it has been understood across faiths and cultures for millennia because it has a compelling interest in the well being of children. Every child has a mother and a father, and every child deserves the opportunity, whenever possible, to be raised by his or her own married mother and father in a stable, loving home. Marriage as the union of a man and a woman is the only institution that encourages and safeguards the connection between children and their mother and father. Although this connection cannot always be realized and sustained—and many single parents, for example, are heroic in their efforts to raise their children—it is in the best interests of the state to encourage and uphold the family founded on marriage and to afford the union of husband and wife unique legal protection and reinforcement.”

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SOURCE: The Christian Post
Rick McDaniel