General
USCCB Amici Curiae Brief in Baskin v. Bogan (2014)
USCCB Amici Curiae Brief in Marilyn Rae Baskin v. Penny Bogan, July 22, 2014
The voices of millions of Americans are represented in the broad cross-section of faith communities that join in this brief. Our theological perspectives, though often differing, converge on a critical point: that the traditional husband-wife definition of marriage is vital to the welfare of children, families, and society. Faith communities like ours are among the essential pillars of this Nation’s marriage culture. With our teachings, rituals, traditions, and ministries, we sustain and nourish both individual marriages and a culture that makes enduring marriages possible. We have the deepest interest in strengthening the time-honored institution of husband-wife marriage both because of our religious beliefs and because of the profound benefits it provides children, families, and society. Our practical experience in this area is unequaled. In millions of ministry settings each day we see the benefits that married mother-father parenting brings to children. And we deal daily with the devastating effects of out-of-wedlock births, failed marriages, and the general decline of the venerable husband-wife marriage institution.
This brief is submitted out of a shared conviction that the State of Indiana did not violate the United States Constitution by acting to preserve the husband wife definition of marriage.
Advocates of same-sex marriage routinely argue that those who oppose redefining marriage are motivated by “anti-gay animus,” either in the form of unthinking ignorance or actual hostility. Such aspersions, which take various forms, are often cast at people and institutions of faith. The accusation is false and offensive. It is intended to suppress rational dialogue and democratic conversation, to win by insult and intimidation rather than by persuasion based on reason, experience, and fact. In truth, we support the husband-wife definition of marriage because we believe it is right and good for children, families, and society. Our respective faith traditions teach us that truth. But so do reason, long experience, and social fact.