Faith groups unite to defend status of marriage
By Roberto Sanchez Guevara, Religious Intelligence
Faith groups in the USA have united in a call for marriage to be defined as only between a man and a woman.
Representatives of Orthodox, Jews and Catholic groups and members of the Consultation of the Episcopal Conference of the United States, the Orthodox Union and the Rabbinical Council of Americas, have issued a joint statement on marriage, titled "Create your Divine Image".
The statement was signed by Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld of the Young Israel Synagogue, Kew Gardens Hills, New York, and Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre and members of the Consultation.
Noting the rise in demand for the legal establishment of same-sex marriage, the statement authors acknowledge the equal human dignity of all people but insist that this dignity "does not justify the creation of a new definition for a term whose traditional meaning is of critical importance to the furtherance of a fundamental societal interest."
At the same they recognize that many communities in the United States are now engaged in a new dialogue about the meaning of the word "marriage", questioning "whether it should describe only the union between a man and a woman."
"As leaders of our respective faiths, including representatives of the US Catholic bishops, we wish to affirm our shared commitment to the commandment of God, the Almighty, who created man and woman in his divine image (Gen. 1:26-27), so that they could share, as man and wife, as partners and equals (Gen. 2:21-24), the procreation of children (Gen. 1: 28) and building society."
The representatives noted that as Jews and Catholics "Now we face a demand that same-sex unions are classified as marriage." They argue that those defending this position argue that "to act otherwise is to assume a form of discrimination against homosexuals."
The Catholic-Jewish statement contests the claim that refusing to recognize same-sex unions as marriage is discrimination against homosexuals. "We recognize that all persons share equally in the dignity of human nature and are entitled to have that human dignity protected, but this does not justify the creation of a new definition for a term whose traditional meaning is of critical importance to the furtherance of a fundamental societal interest," they said.
The statement continues: "God’s design for the continuance of human life, as seen in the natural order, as well as in the Bible, clearly revolves around the union of male and female, first as husband and wife, and then as parents. A unique goal of marriage, which is reproduction and the raising of families, exists apart from that of same-sex unions, which cannot equally participate in this essential function."
The statement released Sept. 4 concluded: "While others have the freedom to disagree with us, we hope that even those outside of our common religious traditions will recognize that we speak from the truth of human nature itself which is consistent with both reason and the moral life.”
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