Baskerville: The Marriage Crisis is Not All the Homosexuals’ Fault

A no-fault divorce sign on a telephone pole in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1974

The statement signed by prominent public intellectuals and published in First Things is a well-intentioned effort to avert same-sex “marriage.” In it the authors declare same-sex “marriage” a more serious matter than divorce or cohabitation. This claim should not be invoked lightly since it reflects a serious failure of leadership. This is not what Christian leaders should be saying at this crisis point in the history of modern marriage. It amounts to a concession to the fixations of the political class at the expense of ordinary Christians and others whose lives have been devastated by the Sexual Revolution.

The document does provide an eloquent reformulation of the standard case against same-sex “marriage.” But at this juncture, with that battle essentially lost, this conveys little but desperation. As many have pointed out, this document contains no constructive plan of practical action for averting same-sex “marriage.”

Same-sex “marriage” is symptomatic of a much larger and more ambitious agenda of determined and defiant sexual liberation being pushed by radical political ideologues. The destruction of true marriage and the traditional family is not merely a consequence of the radicals’ program; it is its stated purpose. And it will not stop with marriage. Other manifestations of the radicals’ growing power have already demonstrated their eagerness to incarcerate their opponents.

This political lobby must be confronted directly. The conviction that same-sex “marriage” can be defeated merely by rehashing the same arguments, however logical, is not leadership. Christian intellectuals are precisely the ones who should be helping us to think “outside the box,” examining the larger picture, debating alternative approaches, and offering practical options to redeem our society from this folly.  (more...)

The Marriage Crisis is Not All the Homosexuals’ Fault

This, and not Kasper's drivel, should be read at a conclave before the Synod on the Family