Hallowed Ground

Marriage is one of the few institutions in the U.S. that still uses Christian language, even when it’s performed in the courthouse. That’s because the sacrament of marriage between one man and one wife was ordained by the explicit teachings of Jesus.

Up until the late 19th century, the state had nothing to do with marriage. People got married in the church. When the state government started to get involved in marriage, they actually put strange and stringent restrictions on it and forgot its initial purpose—which was a union that only existed in the eyes of God. Now, the state is trying to rewrite this God-ordained institution with a plethora of perverse marriages, which will soon open the door to polygamy and more extreme perversity.

No matter what the state does, however, real marriage is only within the church. Other cul­tures embrace homosexuality, polygamy, and even child marriages, but marriage, as most people think about it in the United States today, is ordained by Christ. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, for these other people it doesn’t matter if they’re married because true marriage is a cov­enant ordained by God. Whether the state issues a piece of paper or not, this does not effect the sacrament of marriage—only God does that as an outward and visible sign of an inner and spiritual Grace. Without that Grace, state-ordained unions are doomed to emptiness and de­spair, and are a farce.

In this regard, children fare best in intact families with married parents. The journal AIDS reported that in the Netherlands, where homosexual “marriage” was legalized in 2001, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases are soaring among homosexual men—even those who are “married.” “Partnered” homosexuals have fewer outside lovers than the “unpartnered,” but they still contract HIV at alarming rates.

The mass media and Hollywood relentlessly propagate the notion that homosexuality is a healthy, well-adjusted, vigorous lifestyle, but the facts show otherwise.

A recent report by Dr. Timothy J. Daily cites more than 75 scientific and health studies from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and elsewhere proving that homosexual and lesbian relationships are typically characterized by instability, promiscuity, disease, and behavioral problems.

In his study of male homosexuality in Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present Times, M. Pollak found that “few homosexual relationships last longer than two years, with many men reporting hundreds of lifetime partners.”^[1]

Even in those homosexual relationships in which the partners consider themselves to be in a committed relationship, the meaning of “committed” typically means something radically differ­ent from marriage.

In The Male Couple, authors David P. McWhirter and Andrew M. Mattison reported that in a study of 156 males in homosexual relationships lasting from one to 37 years, only seven couples have a totally exclusive sexual relationship, and these men all have been together for less than five years. Stated another way, all couples with a relationship lasting more than five years have incorporated some provision for outside sexual activity in their relationships.^[2] In Male and Female Homosexuality, M. Saghir and E. Robins found that the average male homosexual live-in relationship lasts between two and three years.^[3]

Also, A. P. Bell and M. S. Weinberg, in their classic study of male and female homosexuality, found that 43 percent of white male homosexuals had sex with 500 or more partners, with 28 percent having 1,000 or more sex partners.^[4]

A study of sexually transmitted disease among lesbians reviewed in The Washington Blade notes: “Behavioral research also demonstrates that a woman’s sexual identity is not an accurate predictor of behavior, with a large proportion of ‘lesbian’ women reporting sex with (often high risk) men.”^[5] The study found that “the median number of lifetime male sexual partners was significantly greater” for women who have lesbian relationships with women. Such women were significantly more likely to report more than fifty lifetime male sexual partners.^[6]

The CDC and other health organizations report a higher incidence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases such as venereal disease, HIV, AIDS, and anal cancer, among homosexually active men and women than among heterosexually active people.

For example, the Archives of Internal Medicine found that homosexuals acquired syphilis at a rate ten times that of heterosexuals.^[7] In 1999, the CDC released data showing that male rectal gonorrhea is increasing among homosexuals amidst an overall decline in national gonorrhea rates. The report attributed the increase to a larger percentage of homosexuals engaging in unsafe sexual behavior.^[8] In a study of the medical records of 1,408 lesbians, the journal Sexu­ally Transmitted Infections found that women who have sexual relations with women are at significantly higher risk for certain sexually transmitted diseases, including hepatitis C and HIV.^[9]

Finally, other studies have shown a strong link between homosexuality and such behavioral problems as alcohol abuse, suicide, and domestic violence.

In their book Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence, D. Island and P. Letellier report that “the incidence of domestic vio­lence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population.”^[10] The Bureau of Justice Statistics (U.S. Department of Justice) reports that married women in traditional families experience the lowest rate of violence compared with women in other types of relationships.^[11]

What we are now witnessing in society is a sad farce that may have the sanction of the state, but does not have the sacramental blessing of God. Pursuing these phony unions will hurt everyone involved and the culture at large as we turn away from God’s blessings to stew in the juice of our own sin.

Notes

1. ↑ M. Pollak, “Male Homosexuality,” in Western Sexuality: Practice and Precept in Past and Present Times, edited by P. Aries and A. Bejin, pp. 40-61, cited by Joseph Nicolosi in Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality (Northvale, New Jersey: Jason Aronson Inc., 1991), pp. 124, 25.
2. ↑ David P. McWhirter and Andrew M. Mattison, The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1984), pp. 252, 3.
3. ↑ M. Saghir and E. Robins, Male and Female Homosexuality (Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1973), p. 225; L.A. Peplau and H. Amaro, Understanding Lesbian Relationships, in Homosexuality: Social, Psychological, and Biological Issues, edited by J. Weinrich and W. Paul (Beverly Hills: Sage, 1982).
4. ↑ A. P. Bell and M. S. Weinberg, Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978), pp. 308, 9; see also Bell, Weinberg and Hammersmith, Sexual Preference (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981).
5. ↑ Katherine Fethers et al., Sexually Transmitted Infections and Risk Behaviors in Women Who Have Sex with Women, Sexually Transmitted Infections 76 (2000): 348.
6. ↑ Ibid., p. 347.
7. ↑ C. M. Hutchinson et al., Characteristics of Patients with Syphilis Attending Baltimore STD Clinics, Archives of Internal Medicine 151 (1991): 511-516.
8. ↑ Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) January 29, 1999, p. 48.
9. ↑ Katherine Fethers et al., Sexually Transmitted Infections and Risk Behaviors in Women Who Have Sex with Women, Sexually Transmitted Infections, July 2000, p. 345.
10. ↑ D. Island and P. Letellier, Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence (New York: Haworth Press, 1991), p. 14.
11. ↑ Violence Between Intimates, Bureau of Justice Statistics Selected Findings, November 1994, p. 2.