ADF

The following is a repost of an Article/newsletter from the Alliance Defense Fund. I don't normally do reposts, but I think this one is important, so please read it.
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February 2008

Dear Friend,

"We will bury you!"

It has been more than 50 years since then-Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev swore that solemn oath to a group of Western ambassadors...long enough now that many Americans don't remember how deadly seriously their parents and grandparents took the threat.

But in the thick of the Cold War--three long decades before the Berlin Wall fell--most Americans had no doubt that Khrushchev meant what he said and that he and his fellow Communists would do their best to make good on the threat.

Our nation's leaders planned accordingly, and people go used to building backyard bomb shelters while children practiced diving under desks during atomic bomb drills. Spy movies became all the rage as people strained their imaginations to think of clever ways the Communists might infiltrate our culture or try to break our will from within.

It may seem a little quaint now, from the vantage point of distance and the far side of September 11, but it was deadly serious stuff back then. People understood, all too clearly, exactly how much was at stake.

Unfortunately, we at the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) are finding that's just not as true today when it comes to a threat just as blunt, aimed not at our borders and missile silos...but at the souls of our children.

For nearly 30 years now--in national gatherings and local papers, on network news shows and political platforms--activists promoting homosexual behavior and its corresponding legal agenda have been openly declaring their ultimate goal: the elimination of marriage and the deconstruction of families.

Neither their aims nor their tactics have been secret. Nor have they changed. Anyone who cared to pay attention, attend the events, or peruse the websites and publications of these advocates would find plenty of material outlining the social, political, and legal means of launching same-sex "marriage," civil unions, domestic partnerships, "psychological parenting," and many of the other legal assaults that have inflicted so much damage on American families.

But, of course, most people--certainly most Christians--don't peruse those websites or attend these events, and they find it easier not to pay attention to the stated intentions of those who despise their values and mock their faith. That hasn't slowed up the advocates of homosexual behavior though. They have been very busy doing exactly what they said they'd do.

And if you think their efforts aren't having a devastating impact...you haven't been watching the news from California.

A new state law there eliminates a school's ability to make distinctions based on biological sex...and opens the door for the wholesale moral subversion of schoolchildren.
Specifically, this law requires anything that might promote a "discriminatory bias" toward someone's sexual identity or sexual orientation be removed from the curriculum--all the way down to kindergarten. What's more, such wrongful behavior must be presented to young people as a choice just a legitimate and even desirable as God's plan for marriage and personal purity.
If these laws are allowed to stand:

...textbooks will be rewritten to eliminate any endorsement of sex roles.

...teachers cannot teach that a student's sex at birth is a student's true sex.

...on demand, boys can now be homecoming "queen" and girls can be homecoming "king."

...schools that want to protect students from restroom and locker room intrusions by people of the opposite sex will be faced with a choice--either violate the law and refuse to allow boys to use the girls' restrooms or spend millions of taxpayer dollars to build separate facilities for the small number of students who pretend to be the opposite sex.

Left unchallenged, this law authorizes public schools to force Christian families to embrace the homosexual legal agenda. Inevitably, it will change the attitudes of young people toward homosexual behavior...and that will change the whole moral future of America.

Yes, that's what makes it so dangerous...but it's also what gives ADF--by God's grace and with your strong financial support--a foot in the door to block this massive assault on religious liberty.
ADF is not a public policy organization--but once such a terrible bill becomes law, the momentum moves to the courts for enforcement--and there, ADF is able to bring our fullest resources to bear. Already, ADF has filed suit with our allies in federal court to challenge this California law, asking the court to declare it unconstitutional. If that effort fails, we will actively defend Christians prosecuted by the state for refusing to forfeit their religious liberties.

An Extraordinary Record

The very candor of the homosexual advocates about their intentions has enabled ADF and our allies to prepare well for--and win--these many legal battles. Your prayers and strong financial support equipped us to be at the right places, make the right arguments, and soundly shatter the best-laid legal plans of those who support the homosexual agenda.

Until recently, these advocates' best hope for accomplishing their long-term strategy was to force same-sex "marriage" on us through our nation's judicial system. If they could succeed in making marriage about anything, it soon would be about nothing.

Thanks to you, that tactic didn't work.

Over the past 10 years, ADF has been a part of 41 cases involving same-sex "marriage." Thirty-three of those we've won outright, two were a "tie," while we lost only one (in Massachusetts, where the Commonwealth Supreme Judicial Court used international law to fabricate same-sex "marriage").

Decisions affecting marriage are still pending for cases in California, Connecticut, Iowa, Oregon, and Wisconsin, but that's an extraordinary record of victories, won in the face of often overwhelming legal, political, and cultural opposition. But because the media minimize any mention of these wins, most Christians don't comprehend the full import of what's been accomplished: 45 states now legally protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
And you may not even realize what a nation-changing difference your gifts have made.
But those pressing the demands of the homosexual legal agenda understand our success very well. Knowing they can't get judges to fabricate same-sex "marriage" directly, they've adjusted their tactical approach for the same end--the abolition of marriage and redefinition of the family.

More Insidious Attacks on Marriage and the Family

In the popular culture, those advocating same-sex unions like to wrap their agenda in words like "love" and "tolerance." In the courts and legislatures, they put on the mantle of "equality." Among the angles these advocates are playing, with varying success, are the following:

* ADJUSTING THE TERMINOLOGY.

The term "same-sex marriage" may not resonate with the voters, but "civil unions" and "domestic partnerships" sound harmless enough. It's not as if they're really "married."

But these aliases have paved the way for advocates of same-sex "marriage" to secure from their employers the same financial benefits traditionally provided to married couples. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) recently issued its "Corporate Equality Index," detailing more than 500 major American companies that now grant full benefits to employees (and their partners) who practice homosexual behavior--as well as nearly 200 cities and more than one-third of U.S. states.

This widespread embrace of same-sex unions effectively blurs the definitions of marriage and obscures the true agenda of those promoting homosexual behavior--which is why ADF is working so diligently in courts all across the country to oppose these judicially imposed "redefinitions of marriage."

* SAME-SEX "DIVORCE."

Same-sex couples "married" in Massachusetts and Canada are asking their home states to grant them a "divorce," knowing that no state can exercise the authority to dissolve a homosexual "marriage" without assuming the authority to grant it too. ADF helped stop this effort at the Rhode Island Supreme Court and is currently involved in another case in Oklahoma.

* REDEFINING THE FAMILY.

In several states, advocates of homosexual behavior are petitioning courts to grant parental rights and authority to an adult who is a "legal stranger" to the child over the objections of the child's legal parents--to win tacit endorsement for same-sex parenting and, by extension, "marriage."

* COERCING THE CHURCH.

Those advocating homosexual behavior present their case as a simple plea to "live and let live." But in fact, the invitation is to "live and let die" --and these advocates are working aggressively to block churches from preaching the Scriptures, where those Scriptures condemn homosexual behavior. In Montana, we're defending a church under legal attack for speaking out on God's plan for marriage and in support of a local referendum defending marriage.
Meanwhile, these advocates of homosexual behavior are moving to legally force churches and ministries to open their facilities to civil union ceremonies. ADF is currently combating this in New Jersey, where same-sex proponents are attempting to force a Christian ministry to use its facilities for civil union ceremonies and have even prompted the removal of some of the organization's tax exemptions to compel that compliance.

* EVADING THE LAW.

Although New York's highest court has ruled that there is no fundamental right to same-sex "marriage," the state comptroller continues to grant marriage benefits to same-sex couples through the state retirement system and to legally recognize same-sex "marriages" from Canada. ADF has filed suit to block this blatant attempt to use tax dollars to subsidize homosexual unions in New York.

But looming on the legal horizon is a monstrous piece of legislation currently being pushed through Congress by the HRC--one of the strongest lobbying groups promoting homosexual behavior.

Attacking the Workplace --ENDA is Near

The Employment Non-Discriminatio Act (ENDA), now being debated in Congress, is about legally enforcing special privileges for those who practice homosexual behavior and sharply punishing any business or organization that opposes such behavior. Many ministries, including ADF, could be dramatically affected.

ADF has worked extensively with our policy allies to make them aware of the profound legal implications of this bill, and the good news is that President George W. Bush has promised to veto it.

And if at some point ENDA or similar legislation does become law, ADF will be ready to file suit to stop its enforcement and to defend Christians prosecuted for resisting the unconstitutional dictates of the homosexual agenda.

A Fundamental Question

All of the tactics being employed by those promoting homosexual behavior--and the terrible consequences of their success in California and potentially (through ENDA) in the rest of the country--have again raised the already-high stakes of the battle over same-sex "marriage."
For thoughtful Christians like you, the fundamental question is not just whether homosexual couples should be able to "marry."

The question is: "What kind of country is my family going to live in?"

I can give you a pretty good idea. If what they're trying in California is any indication and if the homosexual agenda succeeds, we're looking at a nation...

...where federal judges decide how your church is led, who it can employ, and how much of the Bible your leaders can teach.

...where you don't have any say at all in what kind of moral and sexual indoctrination your kids receive in school--public or private.

...where you can be compelled to financially support homosexual behavior, whether you believe in it or not.

That's only part of the agenda of those promoting same-sex "marriage." But thankfully, it's an agenda God has equipped ADF to fight tooth and nail for 14 years, with astonishing success.
We've been there, by God's grace and with your help. Time and again, all across this country, we've won the battle for marriage (see John 15:5).

Please pray and give generously. Stand with us to stop the legal tide that would deny religious liberty and engulf our culture, our churches, and our families with the self-destructive impact of the homosexual agenda.

And may God bless our efforts to defend religious liberty, for the sake of our children and grandchildren.

Yours for religious freedom in America,

Alan E. Sears

President, CEO & General Counsel
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Copyright ©2008, Alliance Defense Fund. All rights reserved.
Permission to reprint this and other documents as noted in their entirety is granted to ADF ministry friends.