{"id":2159,"date":"2013-01-31T00:08:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T00:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/redefining-marriage-creates-conflict-bishops-warn-supreme-court\/"},"modified":"2013-01-31T00:08:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T00:08:00","slug":"redefining-marriage-creates-conflict-bishops-warn-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/01\/redefining-marriage-creates-conflict-bishops-warn-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Redefining marriage creates conflict, bishops warn Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Jan 30, 2013 \/ 05:08 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- In recent legal briefs filed with the Supreme Court, the U.S. bishops warned that a redefinition of marriage would create an \u201cengine of conflict\u201d that threatens freedom of religion, speech and other liberties.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cMarriage, understood as the union of one man and one woman, is not a historical relic, but a vital and foundational institution of civil society today,\u201d said the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in a Jan. 29 amicus brief supporting the California ballot initiative, Proposition 8.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe government interests in continuing to encourage and support it are not merely legitimate, but compelling,\u201d the brief explained.<\/p>\n

\tCalifornia voters passed Prop. 8 in 2008, reversing a court decision that imposed \u201cgay marriage\u201d on the state.<\/p>\n

\tHowever, that effort was overturned by a California federal judge in August 2010, claiming that there is a \u201cfundamental right to marry.\u201d His decision was upheld in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2012.<\/p>\n

\tThat decision is now being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The bishops\u2019 brief for the case observed that the ballot measure \u201cencourages and supports the union of one man and one woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThis is a legitimate state interest because these unions are the only ones capable of creating new life, the document argued, adding that it is reasonable to believe that a home with a mother and a father is \u201cthe optimal environment for raising children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe brief said the Ninth Circuit\u2019s definition of marriage as simply \u201ca committed lifelong relationship\u201d is \u201cincoherent,\u201d \u201cwildly over-inclusive,\u201d and \u201cleads to absurd results\u201d because it would not exclude parent-child relationships, unions between two lifelong friends or relationships between more than two people.<\/p>\n

\tIn addition, the bishops\u2019 conference warned, the redefinition of marriage would adversely affect constitutional rights like the freedoms of religion, conscience, speech and association.<\/p>\n

\tIt pointed to instances where businesses were forced to host \u201cgay weddings\u201d or close, as well as cases where public officials such as town clerks were forced to give up their positions over their objections to same-sex relationships. It also referenced religiously affiliated nonprofits that are facing the prospect of lawsuits for following their beliefs and declining to recognize same-sex \u201cspouses\u201d in benefits policies.<\/p>\n

\tAnother brief from the bishops\u2019 conference supported the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman for purposes of federal law. The act was passed in 1996 with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n

\tThat law \u2013 which the Supreme Court will also rule on this summer \u2013 is being challenged by a New York woman who contracted a same-sex \u201cmarriage\u201d in Canada. She argues that she was unconstitutionally required to pay more than $350,000 in federal estate taxes upon the death of her partner, while a spouse in a federally recognized marriage would have been exempt.<\/p>\n

\tThe bishops\u2019 brief rejected the notion of a \u201cfundamental right to marry a person of the same sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tCivil recognition of same-sex relationships is \u201cnot deeply rooted\u201d in U.S. history, it said, and previous court decisions about the right to marry \u201cplainly contemplate the union of one man and one woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe brief also rejected the claim that the plaintiff is part of \u201ca politically powerless group needing protection against majoritarian impulses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cTo the contrary, the last two decades have witnessed far-reaching changes in how the law treats persons in same-sex relationships, changes that belie any claim of political powerlessness,\u201d it explained.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Jan 30, 2013 \/ 05:08 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In recent legal briefs filed with the Supreme Court, the U.S. bishops warned that a redefinition of marriage would create an “engine of conflict” that threatens freedom of religion,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nRedefining marriage creates conflict, bishops warn Supreme Court<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Jan 30, 2013 \/ 05:08 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- In recent legal briefs filed with the Supreme Court, the U.S. bishops warned that a redefinition of marriage would create an “engine of conflict” that threatens freedom of religion,...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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