It is Reasonable to Be Pro-Traditional Marriage

A few days ago, I was watching an interview with an Evangelical couple who owned a bakery in Oregon.  They had to close their bakery because, after refusing to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding, the community turned against them and boycotted their business.  In the interview, they cited their Biblical belief in marriage and, despite being persecuted for their belief, they accepted the consequence and trusted in God’s providence.  I was impressed with their solid faith and their willingness to stand up for their belief on national television.  However, I worry sometimes that supporters of traditional marriage can come off sounding as if this is only a religious belief.  Marriage between one man and one woman is certainly Biblical, but almost all cultures and all religions in all times have valued this understanding of marriage.  Even under the pagan law of ancient Rome, marriage was defined as “a union of male and female.”  Pagans knew this – not because of an awareness of Jewish values – but because of natural law, the moral law God has imprinted on the human heart (Romans2:15).

Because Catholics and Evangelicals are united on the Biblical understanding of traditional marriage (the sacramentality thereof notwithstanding), I encourage my Evangelical readers – and Catholics curious about how to address this topic with unbelievers – to consider the natural law arguments and those coming from science.  The Catholic tradition, utilizing faith and reason, takes all that is good from pagan philosophy and natural theology, and also does not reject evidence coming from the human sciences.  One year ago, Most Rev. John J. Myers, Archbishop of Newark, wrote a masterpiece on the reasons why the Catholic Church is against so-called “gay marriage” and why it is bad for society.  I invite my readers who are serious about this subject to read the letter online.  Of course, he covers the Biblical view and makes use of Christian tradition, but the most impressive part of his letter is his application of natural law, biology and secular studies to make the case that “same-sex marriage” is detrimental to civilized society.

The ideology behind support for “same-sex marriage” is a denial of objective morality, which has always been a slippery slope for humanity.  Archbishop Myers writes, “It is so important in our times for us to recognize and to overcome false and ultimately destructive ideologies that deny what thinkers from Plato and Aristotle, to Cicero and Aquinas, to the American founders, to Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi all affirmed: that objective truth exists and it is our task to discover it, be formed by it, and to conform our lives as individuals and communities in accord with the truth. We should want what is good, but something is not good simply because we want it. . . Such is the case with marriage. Many today believe that it is an arbitrary thing whose meaning and purpose is imposed by political or juridical fiat. It can mean one thing now and another later. But this has never been the case.”  The issue of re-defining marriage is larger than I can cover in this forum, but my point is that there is great support for our position outside of Biblical references.  As we continue to be maligned as “bigots” or “homophobes” by a hostile world for our sensible position, it is good to know that divine revelation and nature are on our side.