To the editor:
Earlier this year President Barack Obama instructed his Attorney General and the Justice Department not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which recognized marriage as between one man and one woman. This piece of legislation was overwhelmingly passed in the House and Senate and signed into law by then President Bill Clinton in 1996.
Last month the New York State legislature passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage which was immediately signed into law by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a professed Catholic. As the push for same-sex marriage escalates in the weeks, months, and years ahead with the help of the media, Hollywood movie stars and musicians, the courts, and the intellectual elites of our country, with the blessing of many so-called Catholic and other Christian politicians, I wonder as we celebrate our “independence” as a country what God thinks of this nation as it continues its moral decay.
The United States “legally” kills over 1.2 million innocent unborn children by abortion each year and we have two states Oregon and Washington that have legalized physician-assisted suicide with more considering it. Movies, television, the Internet, video games, and radio continue to bombard us with images of violence, sex, drugs, pornography with immunity from the Supreme Court.
No-fault divorce, child abuse and neglect, cohabitation, children born out-of-wedlock, human embryonic stem cell research, in-vitro fertilization, along with many other evils, forms a pretty grim picture of the moral compass of our country in the year 2011.
Until Jesus comes again to “judge the living and the dead” we will be battling the princes and powers of this world until the end of time. We must put our trust in Jesus, his holy Word, and his Church to protect and strengthen us in this battle for the hearts and minds of his people. We must look to the cross to remind ourselves what God, through his Son, did for us to redeem us by his blood. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit and Mary our mother to help us to be a holy people and lead us to the Son and the Father.
It is not always popular to be a pro-life witness in this culture or to stand-up against the attacks on traditional marriage, but as Mother Teresa always said, she wasn’t called to be “successful but to be faithful.” We must do the same. If we are truly disciples of Jesus Christ than we must follow his way, his truth, and his life otherwise we will lose it all.
Patrick Hardyman, Blanchardville