Defending True Marriage With the Heroism of Martyrs and Crusaders

This coming June, the Supreme Court of the United States will rule on the lawfulness of same-sex “marriage.

In view of previous rulings and strong pressure from the powerful homosexual movement, it is to be feared that a majority vote will turn once more to the “penumbra” of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights and discover there a justification for the legalization of this novelty.[1]

A Novelty Rejected by Pagans

Although in pagan antiquity homosexuality (and especially pederasty) was tolerated in both Greece and Rome, same-sex “marriage” was never recognized by law.

Even renowned anthropologist Maurice Godelier (who is favorable to same-sex “marriage”), a professor at Paris’s School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences, admits that, “we do not find institutionalized homosexual and homoparental unions in history.” According to him, this is a matter “that was never raised before.”[2]

Laws Cannot Change Human Nature…

The obvious data from human anatomy and physiology show irrefutably that the reproductive organs are meant for exactly that: the perpetuation of the human species.

Right reason then leads us to conclude that the proper and licit use of these reproductive organs is restricted to the conjugal relations between husband and wife, within the sacred institution of marriage and family, since the act of procreation should never be separated from the natural obligation it generates: providing for the care and education of the children.

Our reason shows us further that the use of these reproductive organs outside of marriage, simply for sexual pleasure, contradicts what our intellect tells us about their nature and specific purpose. Such use is therefore contrary to reason, i.e., irrational.

However, a new and revolutionary concept of human nature underlies the legislative and court decisions that aim to “normalize” homosexual acts and same-sex “marriage.” We will no longer have one only human nature common to both men and women, but two. One that is “straight” and another that is “homosexual.”

Logically, the same nature cannot produce two contradictory behaviors. Our human nature cannot be simultaneously homosexual and heterosexual for this would violate the principle of non-contradiction. Thus, either normalcy is the prerogative of heterosexuality and therefore homosexuality is contrary to nature, or homosexuality is normal, and heterosexuality is abnormal. No other conclusion is possible.

Moreover, from a psychological standpoint, same-sex affection is friendship, and thus, of a different nature than the conjugal love uniting one man and one woman. Therefore, to seek conjugal love with a person of the same sex is an abnormality, a psychological deviation.

…But They Do Influence Public Opinion

Although laws and court rulings on homosexual acts and same-sex “marriage” cannot change human nature, given their educational nature, laws do influence public opinion, and powerfully so.

This influence is all the more harmful as it is accompanied by the propaganda of the homosexual movement, particularly in schools, and by Hollywood’s and the media’s obsessive insistence on presenting homosexuality as good and normal.

As discussed above, human nature cannot be both “straight” and “homosexual” at the same time. To claim that both of these sexual behaviors are normal, that is, that they result from the same human nature, is to deny the principle of non-contradiction, in other words, to fall into the most elementary error of logic.

However, once logic is abandoned, so is reality, and one enters a fantasy world in which it is the human will that determines the nature of things. In that world there is no use arguing with logic, science, ethics and morals, for these are all based on reason, and not considered valid by those who hold to fantasy.

Persecution against Reason and Religion

As long as fantasy stays within the world of literature and the arts, it has no practical consequences and may even be beneficial (e.g., innocent fairy tales in the education of children). However, once fantasy informs legislation and court decisions, the outlook becomes tragic: Will legislators and judges impose the acceptance of an unreal world by punishing the recalcitrant who insist on living in the real world in conformity with nature? Will those who remain faithful to reality, those who reject the fanciful new concept of human nature be persecuted?

More specifically: Large numbers of people reject error presented as truth and evil dressed up as good. In short, because of their fidelity to the natural law, which is known by human reason, and to the principles of Divine Revelation synthesized in the Ten Commandments and clearly explained by the traditional teaching of the Catholic Church, these good people reject same-sex “marriage.” Will the police powers of the State now be turned against them on this account?

Regrettably, this is what we are already seeing in several American states: florists, photographers, bakers and bed & breakfast owners have suffered harassment, fines, legal persecution and great harm to their businesses and personal lives for refusing to cooperate with same-sex “weddings.”

In addition to the heavy hand of the law, there is the even more terrible persecution unleashed by the media and the homosexual movement. All those who are career-minded, be it in the world of politics, academia, business or the arts, usually bend their knees before this brutal despotism. Examples abound in the business world.

Unjust Laws Do Not Oblige

A problem of conscience arises for those who have faith. It is a sin to impose on a nation the acceptance of homosexuality and same sex “marriage” as “normal.” It is an offense to God Who made us in His image and likeness, and redeemed us. Can one remain indifferent to this situation? Or is there a duty to resist?

Saint Augustine states that, “a law that is not just, seems to be no law at all.”[3] And Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that “such laws do not bind in conscience,”adding that all laws inducing “to anything contrary to the Divine law” are unjust.[4]

Now then, laws favoring homosexual practice and imposing same-sex “marriage” are directly opposed to Divine Law expressed both in the Ten Commandments and in the natural law. Thus, in conscience, they not only can be rejected, but should be opposed and fought, peacefully and legally, always in accordance with the dictates of prudence and morality.

Indeed, the Scriptures are clear: “We ought to obey God rather than man.”[5]

Sin and Its Consequences  

Sin has consequences not just in the next life, but in this one too. Although the definitive punishment for individuals is meted out only in eternity, the loss of God’s friendship on a personal level destroys the very essence of happiness on this earth: peace of soul. Pagan philosophers like Aristotle already conceived happiness as the satisfaction given by the practice of virtue.

As Saint Augustine teaches, nations do not pass into eternity, and are thus rewarded or punished on this earth.[6] If virtue leads to an ordered social life, vice leads to disharmony and to the destruction of family and social ties.

Marriage will not be destroyed with impunity. It cannot be equated with a counterfeit imitation. By destroying marriage, one destroys the family, the basic cell of society. The family is what gives life, nurtures, educates and protects the children that are born; supports them in their infancy and adolescence; and guides them to a fitting place in society. When the family deteriorates, the whole social edifice crumbles.

While it is true that wars and cataclysms are the punishment of nations, these are also punished through unjust laws, socialism and other totalitarian regimes.

Holy Indignation

Given the prospect that same-sex “marriage” has already been imposed on several states and may now be imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court on the entire country, what should be our state of mind?

We must not allow ourselves to become discouraged or shirk the fight. For the love of God and of virtue, and out of zeal for faith and truth, we should have a holy indignation against evil. This indignation is not emotional, but rational; it is not personal, but anchored in principles.

We are not moved by personal hatred against anyone, even those seeking to impose a homosexual dictatorship. Our love for them leads us to show them the error of their ways so that, as much as possible, they avoid doing evil.

Fidelity of Martyrs and Combativeness of Crusaders

Like the martyrs, who preferred to lose their lives rather than their faith and virtue, we should “stand fast in the faith, do manfully, and be strengthened,” as the Apostle recommends.[7]

Facing the Mohammedans in the Holy Land, in Spain or at the gates of Vienna, the Crusaders saved Christian civilization from perishing under the yoke of Islam. Even as this old danger is reborn today, our faith is attacked, perhaps in a more brutal way, by the establishment of a homosexual dictatorship through legislation and court rulings. And whoever does not bend his knee to this new Baal can expect to be persecuted.

With the constancy of the martyrs and the combativeness and manly faith of the Crusaders, let us peacefully and legally fight on in defense of the family and of the basic principles of natural and Divine Law – without which no morality is possible – that our fidelity may attract God’s blessing and change the course of events.

And let us ever ask for the help of Mary, the Mother of God, who is “terrible as an army set in battle array.”[8]