By James Wilson
The old story goes that they finally built the ultimate computer and the first order of business was to ask it the ultimate question: Is there a God? The answer came back in a heartbeat. “There is now.”
On June 26, 2015, five members of the United States Supreme Court declared themselves to be God. I say this because in the United States only God Himself stands above the Constitution. Justice Anthony Kennedy – in his opinion for the majority of the justices – placed this majority above the Constitution. I do not say he behaved as though they were above it; he said as much. I have read his decision and discussed it with constitutional attorneys.
He says this when he admits the Constitution expects a legislative remedy in cases of injustice – assuming we say leaving the definition of marriage to the states constitutes injustice, as Kennedy does, – but when the issue is “fundamental” he decides the Court cannot wait for legislation to address it. In other words, the issue of permitting or denying gays the right to marry one another is too important to leave to the Constitution for resolution. It must be resolved by those – the five justices – who are wiser.
One trouble is they are clearly not wiser. In his opinion Kennedy says claims that same sex marriage harms heterosexuals are counter-intuitive and therefore not worth considering. He writes this despite the publication of numerous studies in every nation that has legalized gay marriage to the effect that heterosexual unions in those lands tend to become less frequent, less enduring, and less resilient in terms of their impact on children. Other studies show children raised in homosexual homes are more likely to suffer abuse and less likely to do well in adult life by a number of measures. But the damage is not done to straight people alone. When gays do not receive the benefits they expect – reduced domestic violence, addictions, mental illness and suicidal tendencies, and a disproportionate share of sexually transmitted diseases including AIDS – they tend to sink into despondency as a group. In 2009 a number of gay groups sued the Canadian government, demanding millions in special medical benefits to compensate for the health improvements they did not receive as a by-product of permission to marry.
The staggering numbers of divorces and the brevity of the average gay marriage mirrors those same numbers before they were granted the right to marry in Canada and elsewhere. The right to marry does not fix the inherent instability of these relationships.
Aside from revealing themselves utterly unqualified to do social work their decision does (perhaps) fatal damage to the Constitution and the culture it shapes in three ways. The first is to re-define marriage away from being an institution that provides for the raising of children so that they might become productive adults and raise children of their own. Although our culture has often fallen short of the ideal that we raise children for their own benefit rather than to benefit ourselves as parents, we never subscribed to the European model that says children exist to benefit their parents. This cultural ideal pre-dates our Constitution and has always been central to our identity as Americans. But in declaring a fundamental right for gays to marry in the face of evidence these marriages make it tougher on the kids raised in these households the justices declare in effect that marriage has nothing to do with blessing children.
The second way is that by claiming – as Kennedy does – the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees a right to self-chosen identity, dignity, and autonomy we can now see it is no longer saying no one may be deprived of rights to which they would otherwise be entitled. Now it must be read as saying we are entitled to whatever we want. Kennedy goes on to say the denial of marriage harms gays and is therefore unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. By that logic – harm being the issue – I have every right to demand pharmaceutical companies produce side-effect free anti-cholesterol medications; I am harmed by having to choose between the fatal alternatives of risking high cholesterol and the serious side effects I endure when I take the drugs.
But the third blow struck is to the Constitution itself, and this blow is to every American. Kennedy asserts that the Fourteenth Amendment requires giving same sex couples the right to marry, but makes no effort whatever to find a basis for such a right in either the Constitution, the Amendment, or the volumes of case law in such cases of the past. He ignores – for example – the Tenth Amendment, the one stating clearly that the federal government has no right to exercise powers not specifically enumerated in the document; all un-enumerated powers are left to the states and the people. Nothing in the Fourteenth supercedes that requirement. Yet Kennedy states that – in his judgment and that of the four voting with him – this issue is too important to leave it to the Constitution itself. Their judgment of what is good – and their judgment alone – prevails.
Because I love my country and I have faith in my God I choose to believe it is not yet too late for a season of repentance in people of faith. Repentance looks like civil resistance on the one hand – supporting county clerks who refuse to license same sex couples or all couples – demanding that all unions be domestic partnerships for purposes of legal linkage and having the wedding in churches that believe in authentic marriage – and taking to the streets (non-violently) as Dr. King took to the streets for the civil rights of his day. It means on the other hand examining our hearts to see if there is homophobia taking up residence. It means recognizing that God does not hate homosexual people; He hates the suffering they endure and He longs to see them healed. We need to long as He longs.
The story goes that they built the ultimate Supreme Court and asked it the ultimate question, “Is there a God?” “There is now and they are me,” said the justices. Repentance means seeking the real God and rejecting the counterfeit. Let’s begin by telling five flawed human beings they are neither gods nor above the Constitution.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships, The Holy Spirit and the End Times and Kingdom in Pursuit – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at praynorthstate@charter.net
