Support Missouri Constitutional Amendment No. 2

Submitted on July 21, 2004

Send to friendIn recent months we have witnessed attempts to revamp fundamental traditions and institutions of our society. The efforts to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and the concerted drive to redefine the institution of marriage have their common source in the desire of some to make the United States a totally secular society. We cannot read the primary documents of our founding fathers without recognizing that while they did not wish to establish a state religion, they certainly did not intend to create a Godless society. The determination of some to alter the legal meaning of marriage to include same-sex unions found allies among unelected judges who had the temerity to act as legislators to achieve this end. It is certainly desirable to enact an amendment to our federal constitution to protect marriage, but the cowardice of too many U.S. Senators blocked this temporarily. Under the circumstances, the enactment of amendments to state constitutions can help to protect the institution of marriage. In his July 16 column in the Review on this subject, Archbishop Raymond Burke quoted the "Catechism of the Catholic Church: "The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator." The well-being of society depends on sound family life, which can only be safeguarded in traditional families. To the extent family life is weakened, society suffers. American legal tradition has supported the common understanding of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Statehood for Utah was delayed until it agreed to outlaw polygamy. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments clearly condemn same-sex unions as sinful. It would be harmful to marriage and to society to equate such unions with marriage. It would surely increase danger to young people from sexual predators. If same-sex unions are equivalent to marriage, what is the moral basis for the factor of age? What, then, is the moral objection to polygamy and polyandry? Voting for Amendment No. 2 to the Missouri Constitution on Tuesday, Aug. 3, will be a powerful way to safeguard the sanctity of marriage. Editor’s note: The tax-exempt status of the St. Louis Archdiocese allows the Review to take editorial positions on ballot issues, such as constitutional amendments and tax increases. However, those same regulations do not allow the newspaper to endorse political candidates or parties.