Christian Action League
August 13, 2014
Dear Christian Friend,
It was bad news on the marriage front today. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled at noon they will not stay their decision that Virginia’s Marriage Protection Amendment is unconstitutional. Same-sex marriages could begin in that state as early as next week.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Attorneys had asked the court to delay its decision on behalf of a county clerk in Northern Virginia.
The purpose for the court to delay its decision is to allow the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the issue. Failing to delay their decision means all the states within the 4th Circuit could be forced by the federal courts to begin same-sex marriages, only to have the Appeals Court ruling later overturned by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Granting a stay prevents chaos on the matter within the states under the Fourth Circuit that define marriage as one man and one woman. Those states include Virginia, West Virginia and the Carolinas.
Ken Connelly, legal counsel for ADF says they will seek an emergency stay from the nation’s highest court. The request would go to Chief Justice John Roberts. Connelly said he believed the stay would be granted because there is no substantive difference between Virginia’s case and a federal case in Utah. The U.S. Supreme Court granted delays twice in the Utah case.
We should all be praying for a stay to be granted by the U.S. Supreme Court on the Virginia case.
My friend, granted, the situation looks bleak for those of us who have fought so hard to preserve marriage in North Carolina as God intends it. But no matter what happens, we must never lose hope. The fight for marriage is still not over.
This week, our friends from the National Organization for Marriage wrote:
“The media and the leaders of the same-sex marriage movement have been so relentless and so consistent in propagating this idea that you probably know it well enough by now to repeat each talking point word-for-word: so-called (and falsely named) ‘marriage equality’ is a foregone conclusion, we’re told, and will soon be the law of the entire realm.
“But taking one’s view of the marriage debate in America from this narrative is a very narrow-sighted way of looking at things. It is not even like listening to the partisan play-by-play commentary of the home team’s radio announcer; it is more like asking the captain of the cheerleading squad at halftime who is going to win.”
There are still other cases pending and the ultimate decision on this critical constitutional question is to be made by the U.S. Supreme Court, not the lower federal Appeals Courts.
Moreover, we can never forget God is still on his throne. Gay advocacy groups, tyrannical federal justices intent on shoving same-sex marriage down our throats, and a biased press, can never ultimately topple the will and purpose of God. Those who are really on “the wrong side of history,” are those who defiantly seek to redefine God’s order. Nowhere in the history of mankind has such ever successfully endured.
We should take hope in what Jahaziel, who was moved by God’s Spirit to tell King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:15. “He said: ‘Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.’”
We will provide more information on the Fourth Circuit’s decision today later this week in the CAL Insider. Be sure to look for it.
In the mean-time, please don’t forget that we cannot do what we do without your financial support. Such support has never been needed more than the present.
Please send us your best gift immediately by using our secure means of giving online, by clicking here.
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Christian Action League of North Carolina, Inc.
Suite 1000
809 Spring Forest Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27609
Remember: We should all be praying for a stay to be granted by the U.S. Supreme Court on the Virginia case.
God Bless,
Dr. Mark Creech
Executive Director