The founder of a prominent pro-family organization says a coalition of pro-family groups are asking churches nationwide to show their support for the biblical view of marriage.
Last week, leaders from more than two dozen pro-family groups gathered in Washington, DC, to announce a campaign to protect traditional marriage. At a press conference following their meeting, those leaders said they are ready to do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to preserve the traditional view of marriage, which they call the "foundation of American society."
Dr. Don Wildmon is founder and chairman of the American Family Association, one of the groups making up the pro-family coalition that is promoting "Marriage Protection Week," slated for October 12-18. As part of the effort to promote the traditional concept of marriage, Wildmon says churches across the nation will soon be asked to sign an online petition on the issue.
"All we're asking [churches to do] is to sign a pledge that they support the traditional view of marriage being between one man and one woman, and that the church opposes treating 'civil unions' as marriage in everything except name only," the pro-family leader explains.
Wildmon says the goal is for 100,000 churches to sign the pledge. "We need the numbers. People may not know this, but we're at a critical time," he says. "If we lose this battle -- if the homosexuals get homosexual marriage, or even national civil unions -- then, to be honest with you, in my opinion the war is over and we've lost."
Wildmon says the Internet site ChurchesForMarriage.com will be up and running after Marriage Protection Week.
Proclamation Anti-American?
Shortly after the two-day meeting of the pro-family groups, President Bush signed a proclamation naming the week of October 12 as "Marriage Protection Week." The proclamation states that marriage is "a union between a man and a woman" and "a sacred institution." Protection of that institution, it says, is "essential to the continued strength of our society."
It did not take long for the homosexual community to react. According to one pro-homosexual group, that presidential proclamation is not only "anti-family," but also "anti-American." Leaders of Soulforce, a pro-homosexual "interfaith" group, reportedly expressed "shock and dismay" at the official White House announcement promoting Marriage Protection Week.
In a written statement on Monday, a spokesperson for Soulforce says both the proclamation and the week-long observance "are based on misguided religious teachings which cross the boundaries of church/state separation and the principles of religious liberty." According to the group, it is an inaccurate perception that there is only one definition of "marriage" and only one definition of "family."
The group also says a proposed Federal Marriage Amendment currently making its way through Congress "codifies discrimination" against homosexual, bisexual, and trans-gender "families" because it defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
© 2003 AgapePress all rights reserved.