By Charlie Butts
One News Now
Traditional marriage opponents plan to appeal a North Carolina judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the state’s and the church’s role in marriage.
The lawsuit, filed in December in Guilford Superior Court, asserts that there is no reason for the state to require religious leaders or court magistrates to perform ceremonial marriages, or for the state to require registration. It also contends that keeping religious leaders from solemnizing a same-sex couple’s “marriage” violates the U.S. Constitution.
Superior Court Judge Judson DeRamus decided late last week to dismiss the lawsuit, which was aimed at getting the state out of marriage licensing so that marriage ceremonies would be done by private or secular means, without state sanction. Dr. Mark Creech of the Christian Action League of North Carolina tells OneNewsNow the idea is to “provide a compromise in the marriage debate.”
“But it’s still a very bad idea because it fails to recognize the importance of marriage and its profound impact on society,” he offers. “The state has always been empowered with regulation to protect the public’s good. We even recognize that certain private acts have public consequences, and the state regulates them.” Marriage, he notes, is one of them.
He says the disintegration of marriage has already proved costly to society. The damage that it does to children is an example, he adds.
“I sincerely hope that North Carolinians will be able to see what a threat this court case, which is now on appeal, is to traditional marriage in North Carolina,” he implores. “These people are determined to undermine marriage as one man and one woman in our state.”
While Creech recognizes that the appeal’s fate is questionable, if voters pass a proposed constitutional amendment on May 8, traditional marriage would be protected and courts would not be allowed to redefine marriage.
The lawsuit does not challenge the proposed amendment.
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