Reigniting the Culture Wars

by David ClaiborneApril, 12 2009

Finding themselves bereft of any new ideas or politically-savvy leadership, the conservative movement is now attempting to undermine President Obama’s post-partisan vision by reviving the culture wars. After the recent passage of anti-gay marriage legislation in California with proposition 8, the “traditional marriage” crowd seems emboldened.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is currently running this ad eight times a day in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and California on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN:

But they’re going back to a well that appears to have dried up. The response to the NOM “Gathering Storm” ad has been largely negative, and with the influence of Christianity on American politics waning in the face of a new generation of more tolerant voters, the old “god, guns and gays” routine isn’t gaining much traction.

Advocates of same-sex marriage have pointed out that besides using bald-faced lies and fear-mongering, the people in this ad aren’t even who they claim to be. Clever researchers managed to get a copy of NOM’s audition tapes and posted them online. NOM has forced YouTube to pull down the videos based on copyright claims, but you just can’t delete things once they’re on the Internet.

With Iowa now joining the short list of states that have legalized gay marriages, the culture warriors are getting nervous – and they’re desperate to keep this issue on the forefront for fear that we’ll head down the slippery slope of equal rights.

Newt Gingrich is doing his part to fan the flames, calling the Obama administration “anti-religious.” Fox News has been up in arms over the president’s assertion that we are not a Christian nation. The president also said in that same sentence that we are not a Jewish or Muslim nation, but they conveniently overlook that fact in their search for new wedges with which to divide Americans against one another.

There’s unfortunately still a large number of Americans who continue to insist that the United States is a nation whose Constitution was based on Christian values. They believe that passing and enforcing laws which protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority are a sign of an erosion of America’s founding principles.

I’ll let our nation’s third president and the author of the Declaration of Independence respond to this ignorance:

“Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.”
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

Since the “traditional marriage” folks appear to be about as familiar with the Bible as they are with American history, perhaps we can provide some assistance with their campaign to redefine marriage in a way that is based on biblical principles;

Marriage consists of a union between one man and one or more women. (Gen 29:17-28; II Sam 3:2-5)
Marriage shall not impede a man’s right to take concubines, in addition to his wife or wives. (II Sam 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)
A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)
Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Gen 24:3; Num 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)
Since marriage is for life, divorce is prohibited. (Deut 22:19; Mark 10:9)
If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother’s widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe. (Gen 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)

Now those are some traditional American values!

In the face of such absurdity and ignorance, most polls indicate that Americans are gravitating towards granting equal marriage rights to same-sex couples. Once again, the cultural conservatives are picking a fight that they cannot possibly hope to win – but there are always “dead-enders” in every movement that seeks to impose theocratic rule by way of coercion and terror.

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