As if the world were overflowing with so much love it was getting in someone’s way, those who wish to force their views all the way into the bedrooms of everyone else have proposed this stunning little amendment to the Constitution:
JOINT RESOLUTION [H.J.RES.37.IH]
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:
`Article–
`Section 1. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of a legal union of one man and one woman.
`Section 2. No court of the United States or of any State shall have jurisdiction to determine whether this Constitution or the constitution of any State requires that the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon any union other than a legal union between one man and one woman.
`Section 3. No State shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State concerning a union between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage, or as having the legal incidents of marriage, under the laws of such other State.’.
Sponsor: Rep Lungren, Daniel E.
COSPONSORS (34)
Rep Akin, W. Todd [MO-2] – 3/4/2009
Rep Bachus, Spencer [AL-6] – 3/4/2009
Rep Bartlett, Roscoe G. [MD-6] – 3/4/2009
Rep Bilirakis, Gus M. [FL-9] – 3/4/2009
Rep Blackburn, Marsha [TN-7] – 3/4/2009
Rep Brady, Kevin [TX-8] – 3/4/2009
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] – 3/4/2009
Rep Burton, Dan [IN-5] – 3/4/2009
Rep Cantor, Eric [VA-7] – 3/4/2009
Rep Chaffetz, Jason [UT-3] – 3/4/2009
Rep Coffman, Mike [CO-6] – 3/4/2009
Rep Forbes, J. Randy [VA-4] – 3/4/2009
Rep Franks, Trent [AZ-2] – 3/4/2009
Rep Gingrey, Phil [GA-11] – 3/4/2009
Rep Harper, Gregg [MS-3] – 3/4/2009
Rep Hoekstra, Peter [MI-2] – 3/4/2009
Rep Jordan, Jim [OH-4] – 3/4/2009
Rep Luetkemeyer, Blaine [MO-9] – 3/4/2009
Rep Marchant, Kenny [TX-24] – 3/4/2009
Rep McCotter, Thaddeus G. [MI-11] – 3/4/2009
Rep Mica, John L. [FL-7] – 3/4/2009
Rep Miller, Jeff [FL-1] – 3/4/2009
Rep Moran, Jerry [KS-1] – 3/4/2009
Rep Neugebauer, Randy [TX-19] – 3/4/2009
Rep Pence, Mike [IN-6] – 3/4/2009
Rep Pitts, Joseph R. [PA-16] – 3/4/2009
Rep Radanovich, George [CA-19] – 3/4/2009
Rep Rogers, Harold [KY-5] – 3/4/2009
Rep Rogers, Mike D. [AL-3] – 3/4/2009
Rep Shuster, Bill [PA-9] – 3/4/2009
Rep Smith, Lamar [TX-21] – 3/4/2009
Rep Souder, Mark E. [IN-3] – 3/4/2009
Rep Westmoreland, Lynn A. [GA-3] – 3/4/2009
Rep Wittman, Robert J. [VA-1] – 3/4/2009
Personally, I think it is nonsense. Article 11 of the Treaty of Tripoli, which was widely-disseminated and read during its time, stated that, “As the Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion….” President John Adams and his Secretary of State Timothy Pickering approved it, and it was then ratified by the Senate without objection. Though the whole article was dropped (probably because it was no longer deemed critical to soothe Muslim fears), it’s original inclusion and distribution gives us insight into the thoughts of the Founding Fathers 6 years after adopting the Bill of Rights.
Neither Christians nor the members of any religion have the right to usurp our First Amendment rights. They may, within the confines of their beliefs, choose to honor marital unions however they wish and even choose to deny them to some, but it is not the government’s role to define marriage on their behalf. This amendment would create a law respecting an establishment of religion in the most literal sense. You can’t tell me that the literal and figurative meanings of the word “establishment” went unnoticed by minds wise enough to have created this beloved country. Unlike most of those in government today, the Founding Fathers understood the meaning of words and used them with the utmost care.