House of Bishop Statements
Monserrat Retreat House, Lake Dallas, TX - 21 April 2009
The Anglican Church in America House of Bishops meeting at the Monserrat Retreat
in Lake Dallas, Texas, have issued the following statements concerning gay
marriages and Freedom and the Freedom of Choice Act.
ACA House of Bishops Statement on “Gay Marriage”
Since the beginning of human history, marriage has been the institutional
building block of society. And since the beginning of human history, marriage
has been between a man and a woman – male and female. The Book of Genesis
testifies to this for Christians and Jews. Aristotle (ca. 350 BC) adds his own
secular testimonial.
The dual purpose of marriage is unitive and procreative. It provides a structure
for raising children. The political state will not be healthy without healthy
citizens, and healthy citizens come from healthy families, comprised of mother,
father and child(ren).
Our Creator made us male and female, with the result that the
physical union in marriage is a reality. Male and female really unite in a way
that is impossible for members of the same sex, and that union is open to the
possibility of procreation in a way that no “same-sex union” could possibly be.
Romantic “love,” we agree, is not the concern of the state. But the
crux of the issue is whether marriage serves society and conforms to the will of
our Creator. Gay unions cannot do this, because they cannot produce good
citizens, and refuse to conform to the way in which human beings were created by
God.
There is an order to all things; there is a natural law – a law of reason,
received from our Creator. Through this law man can comprehend his ultimate end,
and the way he must live to fulfill it. God will not be mocked. To disdain his
law is inevitably to invite disaster, both personal and social.
ACA House of Bishops Statement on the “Freedom of Choice Act”
The so-called “Freedom of Choice Act” now working its way through Congress
eliminates any choice at all, first for the thousands of unborn babies who will
be slaughtered at taxpayer expense, and also for conscientious medical
practitioners with moral and/or religious objections to performing abortions.
The former will be dead, and the latter will be subject to legal penalties,
including forfeiture of their licenses to practice medicine, if they refuse to
provide fodder for the charnel houses.
This legislation constitutes the epitome of the death culture’s grab for power
in our country.
As bishops in the Church of God, we the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church
in America call on such medical providers to practice the quiet, peaceable civil
disobedience which once triumphed over “Jim Crow” laws, by continuing to provide
principled medical care. And we call upon all faithful Christians to seek and
obtain medical care from such practitioners. If this creates a “white market” in
medical care, so be it. If it comes at a cost to some or many, it will be no
more than the cost of obtaining civil rights for all some forty years ago.
I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore
choose life. (Deut. 30:19)
Further Reading
The Wikipedia
web site has an article, neither for or against FOCA, which will provide basic
information. That article also contains many links for and against HR 1964 and S
1173. The article also contains links to the Library of Congress for the full
text of both the 2004 and 2007 House and Senate Bills.
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