Dirty tricks exposed in same sex marriage debate in USA.

It was generally known that in Britain the odds were stacked against the opponents of same sex marriage (ssm). Halls for meetings were refused, a consultation was offered by the government, but before it was concluded we were told legislation was going ahead; the Coalition for Marriage collected over 600,000 signatures against the proposed legislation, but this was counted as one (1) vote, whereas the petition organised by supporters of ssm collected 60,000 and all were counted in full.

A proposed legal Bill normally goes through the procedure of being debated in the Commons and studied in Committee stages, which were in this case overlooked, and the legislation was considered more important than matters of the economy.

Now it has been revealed the Inland Revenue Services in the United States has been disclosing to Human Rights Campaign, an organisation supporting same sex marriage, the names and addresses of people who have donated money to the groups opposing same sex marriage. This has led to harassment of people and businesses in their homes and work, where some have been dismissed, and businesses have been boycotted. The Tea Party and Republican groups have also been bullied by the IRS. Such would seem to be deliberate political activity by a public body.

I am surprised that the United States has seen numerous individual States legalise same sex marriage. I was (mistakenly) under the impression that Christianity was so much stronger in that country than here in Britain, having studied particularly the evangelical Churches, and imagined there would be strong resistance. It appears that public officials are just as hostile to Christianity there as they are here.

In both the USA and UK the Anglican Churches are failing as a national body to stand firm on biblical teaching. One cannot hope for much support when the Presiding Bishop in America has made very clear her support for same sex marriage and has a very liberal agenda generally. Whilst our Archbishops are firmly opposed, they do not receive the support they deserve from all their fellow bishops.

In a recent shameful statement the Bishop of Salisbury likened those of us who are opposed to ssm to those who supported slavery and apartheid. This brought a protest from the member of Parliament for Salisbury who rightly indicated that this was not the view of the people of his Diocese who were of the opposite opinion. There is of course no one so illiberal as a liberal, and it is not so much as case of them opposing an alternative opinion, they don’t think anyone should have an alternative opinion; which is why those who stand firm on the understanding of marriage have been crushed.

Let us remember again, this proposal was never suggested in any political manifesto, had been previously refuted by the Prime Minister, who then dreamed up the proposal in a moment of conference euphoria, and was totally contrary to Conservative Party values and opinion, which has consequently lost massive support.

I hope the next post to study the Biblical view of marriage, in other words, what God has stated about marriage.