It's the First Amendment Stupid

By Ed Blazejewski

(Revised)

The decision by Federal District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker is not only an attack on the institution of marriage, but his findings pose what a Supreme Court Justice once termed “a clear and present danger” to the religious freedom tenant of the First Amendment.

First of all, there IS a non-religious component to the matter. Judge Walker’s observation that “moral disapproval is not enough” to distinguish "same-sex and opposite-sex unions” has the effect of destroying what has heretofore been an exclusive institution, whose unwelcoming aspects were properly grounded in the natural order, and NOT bigotry or parochial morality. That observation alone seemingly constitutes inflammatory language, in that those who cling to the traditional value system are being labeled with a perjorative because they are incapable of the acceptance of an unnatural state of being. To me, it is akin to condemning a human being for refusing to inflict pain upon themself.

Secondly, and more dangerous, is this ruling, which until the judicial review process is complete, IS the law of the land, poses a direct threat to the First Amendment’s protection of Freedom of Religion, and has the potential to relegate that Constitutional guarantee to a mere recognition of the right to worship, without reference to the necessary transformation of doctrine into practice.

Assuming that the Circuit Court and the Supreme Court uphold the District Court’s ruling, how will the Court reconcile the “civil rights” of those seeking same-sex marriage with the protection afforded by the First Amendment to those Churches whose teachings oppose such “marriage“???　The Court may mandate the requirement that the clergy perform same-sex marriage ceremonies under the penalty of withdrawal of tax-exempt status.The Court may also determine that the clergy’s refusal to perform the ceremonies may constitute hate speech, and as such, criminalize the the teachings of the Bible.

The condundrum facing the Court is the protection of rights for a vocal minority, who challenge the very fabric of human society, at the exclusion, and perhaps confiscation, of the heretofore sacrosanct Constitutional guarantees of Freedom of Religion.Let’s hope that the Supreme Court gets it: “It’s the First Amendment stupid.” Hopefully, the Court will leave the ancient institution alone, or at least, protect the minority’s “rights” without destroying the Constitution. Civil Unions, anyone???