Ten Ways to Lawfully Resist Same-Sex "Marriage" and the Homosexual Movement
Excerpted from Battling for America’s Soul: How Homosexual “Marriage” Threatens Our Nation and Faith
TFP Calls for Lawful, Conscientious Resistance to Same-Sex “Marriage” and the Homosexual Movement
A personal note: I have written and posted about homosexuality here many times in the past and have spoken about how important it is to love the sinner, but to hate the sin. Homosexuality is a sin -- a sickness of the soul -- and I pray for those who suffer from it. Those who struggle with same sex attraction can receive help from groups such as Courage. I highly recommend that all who read this excerpt from TFP, read the entire post here.
1) Catholics Have an Obligation to Oppose Same-Sex “Marriage”
Considerations states that Catholics must do their utmost to oppose the legalization of homosexual unions. ” We are bound a fortiori to resist homosexual “marriage,” taking into account the following points in Considerations:
* “The approval or legalization of evil is something far different from the toleration of evil.”
* “One must refrain from any kind of formal cooperation in the enactment or application of such gravely unjust laws.”
* “Material cooperation on the level of their application” must be avoided.
* One may even resort to the “right to conscientious objection.”
* Where homosexual unions have been legalized, “clear and emphatic opposition is a duty.” (No. 5)
2) Laws that Contradict Right Reason Do Not Bind in Conscience
Considerations explains the moral basis for this resistance, saying, “civil law cannot contradict right reason without losing its binding force on conscience” (Evangelium Vitae, no. 72). Every law must be “consistent with the natural moral law recognized by right reason, and insofar as it respects the inalienable rights of every person.”[17]
The natural moral law binds all people, in all times. No State is above its precepts. State authorities who enact or enforce same-sex “marriage” laws fail in their duty to uphold the common good. To them can be addressed the words of Saint John the Baptist to King Herod: “It is not lawful for thee.” (Matt. 14:4; Mark 6:18)
3) Catholic Politicians Have a Specific Obligation
Considerations’ Section IV, titled “Positions of Catholic politicians with regard to legislation in favor of homosexual unions,” emphasizes the obligation of elected Catholic officials to oppose such legislation:
If it is true that all Catholics are obliged to oppose the legalization of homosexual unions, Catholic politicians are obliged to do so in a particular way, in keeping with their responsibility as politicians..… The Catholic lawmaker has a moral duty to express his opposition clearly and publicly and to vote against it. To vote in favor of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral. (No. 10)
Some Catholics elected or appointed to public office have invoked the secular principle of separation of Church and State as an excuse to ignore Catholic morality in their public life. What they are really doing is separating, in their persons, “the Catholic” from “the public official.” This separation violates the unity of being and the premises of morals and logic. Every man is judged by God according to his thoughts, words and deeds, and therefore, on the oneness of his personality.
4) Being Faithful to our Baptismal Vow
A Catholic who accepts the practice of homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” as good renounces natural moral law principles confirmed by Divine Revelation and thus breaks the vow of fidelity made to Our Lord Jesus Christ at baptism.
5) Join the Spiritual Crusade
We must join the Crusade like many who “preceded us with the sign of faith.” Unlike the Crusades of old, ours is not physical, but spiritual.[18]
Being part of this spiritual crusade means being an untiring apostle for marriage and the family; to never lose an opportunity to tell others—family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers—that homosexual acts and same-sex “marriage” are wrong, unnatural and “intrinsically evil.”
6) Join the Political Fray Catholics not engaged in political life need to become involved.
When freedoms and Christianity itself are at stake, absenteeism is not an option. For some, this political involvement starts with registering to vote. However, there are numerous other initiatives, not directly linked to voting, that deserve attention, time, and talent.These activities and political initiatives are constantly varying. Those committed to defend marriage must stay informed. This battlefield is subject to constant change.
7) Oppose All Efforts to Legalize Same-Sex “Marriage”
We must oppose all efforts to legalize same-sex “marriage,” in every branch of government: the legislative, judicial and executive. We must promote petitions, write letters to the newspapers, and contact those elected or appointed to public office.
8) Reverse Legalized Same-Sex “Marriage”
In those jurisdictions where same-sex “marriage” has been legalized by the courts or the legislature, or where its recognition has been mandated at the executive level, one must help every lawful effort to reverse this legalization and recognition.
9) Remain Steadfast in Persecution
Where same-sex “marriage” has been legalized, one must make use of the right to conscientious objection and refuse all formal or material cooperation in its application.If one suffers persecution as a result, one should offer this to God, and fight back by bringing this injustice to the public eye. This can be done by contacting those in the media, the legal profession, or the pro-family movement who can assist in the defense of one’s rights. First Amendment rights may be weakened in the U.S., but are not yet abolished.
10) If We Fight Faithfully to the End, God Will Give us Victory!
Saint Joan of Arc encouraged her troops to fight bravely regardless of the odds, saying, “If we fight, God will give the victory!” In this struggle, we too must fight as if everything depended on us, but rely entirely on God to give us victory. And He will do so, for, in the words of Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: “When men resolve to cooperate with the grace of God, the marvels of History are worked.”[19]
E. We Are Opposing the Homosexual “Moral Revolution”
In this lawful, faithful and necessary resistance, we must keep in mind the true goals of secularism and the homosexual movement.
Whereas the truth and the good become more attractive the more completely they appear in their nature, methods and ends, error and evil, on the contrary, are able to seduce only to the degree they hide their ultimate goal.
By imposing same-sex “marriage” on society, the homosexual movement and its secularist allies show their true face, and this will diminish their capacity to seduce. Their railroading of same-sex “marriage” on the American people makes increasingly clear what homosexual activist Paul Varnell wrote in the Chicago Free Press:
The gay movement, whether we acknowledge it or not, is not a civil rights movement, not even a sexual liberation movement, but a moral revolution aimed at changing people's view of homosexuality.[20]
Link to footnotes here.
Related Post:
Leticia at Causa Nostrae Laetitiae has written an excellent post entitled "Aren't Catholics Just homophobes?" here.
TFP Calls for Lawful, Conscientious Resistance to Same-Sex “Marriage” and the Homosexual Movement
A personal note: I have written and posted about homosexuality here many times in the past and have spoken about how important it is to love the sinner, but to hate the sin. Homosexuality is a sin -- a sickness of the soul -- and I pray for those who suffer from it. Those who struggle with same sex attraction can receive help from groups such as Courage. I highly recommend that all who read this excerpt from TFP, read the entire post here.
1) Catholics Have an Obligation to Oppose Same-Sex “Marriage”
Considerations states that Catholics must do their utmost to oppose the legalization of homosexual unions. ” We are bound a fortiori to resist homosexual “marriage,” taking into account the following points in Considerations:
* “The approval or legalization of evil is something far different from the toleration of evil.”
* “One must refrain from any kind of formal cooperation in the enactment or application of such gravely unjust laws.”
* “Material cooperation on the level of their application” must be avoided.
* One may even resort to the “right to conscientious objection.”
* Where homosexual unions have been legalized, “clear and emphatic opposition is a duty.” (No. 5)
2) Laws that Contradict Right Reason Do Not Bind in Conscience
Considerations explains the moral basis for this resistance, saying, “civil law cannot contradict right reason without losing its binding force on conscience” (Evangelium Vitae, no. 72). Every law must be “consistent with the natural moral law recognized by right reason, and insofar as it respects the inalienable rights of every person.”[17]
The natural moral law binds all people, in all times. No State is above its precepts. State authorities who enact or enforce same-sex “marriage” laws fail in their duty to uphold the common good. To them can be addressed the words of Saint John the Baptist to King Herod: “It is not lawful for thee.” (Matt. 14:4; Mark 6:18)
3) Catholic Politicians Have a Specific Obligation
Considerations’ Section IV, titled “Positions of Catholic politicians with regard to legislation in favor of homosexual unions,” emphasizes the obligation of elected Catholic officials to oppose such legislation:
If it is true that all Catholics are obliged to oppose the legalization of homosexual unions, Catholic politicians are obliged to do so in a particular way, in keeping with their responsibility as politicians..… The Catholic lawmaker has a moral duty to express his opposition clearly and publicly and to vote against it. To vote in favor of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely immoral. (No. 10)
Some Catholics elected or appointed to public office have invoked the secular principle of separation of Church and State as an excuse to ignore Catholic morality in their public life. What they are really doing is separating, in their persons, “the Catholic” from “the public official.” This separation violates the unity of being and the premises of morals and logic. Every man is judged by God according to his thoughts, words and deeds, and therefore, on the oneness of his personality.
4) Being Faithful to our Baptismal Vow
A Catholic who accepts the practice of homosexuality and same-sex “marriage” as good renounces natural moral law principles confirmed by Divine Revelation and thus breaks the vow of fidelity made to Our Lord Jesus Christ at baptism.
5) Join the Spiritual Crusade
We must join the Crusade like many who “preceded us with the sign of faith.” Unlike the Crusades of old, ours is not physical, but spiritual.[18]
Being part of this spiritual crusade means being an untiring apostle for marriage and the family; to never lose an opportunity to tell others—family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers—that homosexual acts and same-sex “marriage” are wrong, unnatural and “intrinsically evil.”
6) Join the Political Fray Catholics not engaged in political life need to become involved.
When freedoms and Christianity itself are at stake, absenteeism is not an option. For some, this political involvement starts with registering to vote. However, there are numerous other initiatives, not directly linked to voting, that deserve attention, time, and talent.These activities and political initiatives are constantly varying. Those committed to defend marriage must stay informed. This battlefield is subject to constant change.
7) Oppose All Efforts to Legalize Same-Sex “Marriage”
We must oppose all efforts to legalize same-sex “marriage,” in every branch of government: the legislative, judicial and executive. We must promote petitions, write letters to the newspapers, and contact those elected or appointed to public office.
8) Reverse Legalized Same-Sex “Marriage”
In those jurisdictions where same-sex “marriage” has been legalized by the courts or the legislature, or where its recognition has been mandated at the executive level, one must help every lawful effort to reverse this legalization and recognition.
9) Remain Steadfast in Persecution
Where same-sex “marriage” has been legalized, one must make use of the right to conscientious objection and refuse all formal or material cooperation in its application.If one suffers persecution as a result, one should offer this to God, and fight back by bringing this injustice to the public eye. This can be done by contacting those in the media, the legal profession, or the pro-family movement who can assist in the defense of one’s rights. First Amendment rights may be weakened in the U.S., but are not yet abolished.
10) If We Fight Faithfully to the End, God Will Give us Victory!
Saint Joan of Arc encouraged her troops to fight bravely regardless of the odds, saying, “If we fight, God will give the victory!” In this struggle, we too must fight as if everything depended on us, but rely entirely on God to give us victory. And He will do so, for, in the words of Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: “When men resolve to cooperate with the grace of God, the marvels of History are worked.”[19]
E. We Are Opposing the Homosexual “Moral Revolution”
In this lawful, faithful and necessary resistance, we must keep in mind the true goals of secularism and the homosexual movement.
Whereas the truth and the good become more attractive the more completely they appear in their nature, methods and ends, error and evil, on the contrary, are able to seduce only to the degree they hide their ultimate goal.
By imposing same-sex “marriage” on society, the homosexual movement and its secularist allies show their true face, and this will diminish their capacity to seduce. Their railroading of same-sex “marriage” on the American people makes increasingly clear what homosexual activist Paul Varnell wrote in the Chicago Free Press:
The gay movement, whether we acknowledge it or not, is not a civil rights movement, not even a sexual liberation movement, but a moral revolution aimed at changing people's view of homosexuality.[20]
Link to footnotes here.
Related Post:
Leticia at Causa Nostrae Laetitiae has written an excellent post entitled "Aren't Catholics Just homophobes?" here.
How do we reach all the "Catholics" in name only. If they lived their faith, it would be defeated almost instantly.
ReplyDeleteI'm really surprised that the TFP only focuses on homosexuality and hasn't embraced the bible's advocacy for slavery as well as stonings for crimes instead of prisons.
ReplyDeleteThe Republican Party, as so firmly supported by the Catholic church, must be so befuddled over the conflict from that civil war mistake abolishing American slavery when they now see they must be on the leading edge of fighting *for* discrimination.
The other thing that confuses me is, given the claim that marriage is only for straight people to procreate, why do they allow the marriage of infertile couples. Conflicting indeed.