Same-Sex Marriage: Putting Every Household at Risk

by Mathew D. Staver

Book Overview

God’s definition for marriage was laid out in the begining. One man and one woman uniting together in covenant to become one flesh. But the homosexual agenda today is teaching this culture that this... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805431969
• ISBN13: 9780805431964
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
• Length: 154 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Stuffed with factual data. Hopeful in Tone. Good Reading

In June 2006 the Federal Marriage Protection Amendment came marching into the United States Senate last week with great fanfare from both supporters and opposition. This is the proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that says: "Marriage in the United States shall consist solely of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman." The amendment was quickly defeated, but the issue is far from going away. This amendment would disallow same-sex marriage in all fifty states. Why have we come to the point of amending the Constitution? After all, this is a very difficult task to achieve. In announcing the amendment, President Bush said, "In their wisdom, our founders set a high bar for amending the Constitution. An amendment must be approved by two-thirds of the House and the Senate, and then ratified by three-fourths of the 50 state legislatures. This process guarantees that every state legislature and every community in our nation will have a voice and a say in deciding this issue." The question remains - is this an issue about which Christians should be concerned? Mathew Staver thinks so, and wrote Same-Sex Marriage: Putting Every Household at Risk to energize the church to be active in this particular engagement with culture. Staver serves as President of Liberty Counsel, dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family. He wants to move the reader to action, becoming more compassionate for those trapped in homosexual behavior and becoming more concerned for the defense of monogamous heterosexual marriage. Working against apathy, Staver argues that homosexual marriage is not a private matter between consenting adults, but is a social malady that affects the entire culture. Same-Sex Marriage is a short 124 pages, but includes nearly 600 endnotes of documentation. Staver builds strong arguments on the foundation of medical research, historical legal precedent, psychological and sociological studies, and even testimony gleaned from the homosexual community itself. In fact, some of the most distressing data presented came not from Christian observation of the gay and lesbian community, but from their own writers who spoke candidly about their lifestyle. Christian hope pervades this book. Putting aside both apathy and a complaining spirit, Staver says: "We truly live in a unique time. God has placed us here at this time in human history for a reason, and he expects us to take advantage of the moment. We can never give up. The Christian does not have the option of noninvolvement. Future generations depend on how we live and act today. We are here for such a time as this." Staver provides the church with a helpful resource for developing our thinking and motivating our action in this crucial area of cultural en

In Defense of Marriage

The debate about same-sex marriage, notes Staver, is really a debate about marriage itself. The debate seeks to overturn millennia of accumulated wisdom on the nature of marriage. And in so doing, it may overturn the very fabric of society which has been built on marriage and family. Marriage is not simply a private relationship. It is a social good and a public institution. Societies have always given benefits to marriage because marriage gives benefits to society. For a society to disown its own birthright in upholding heterosexual marriage, is in effect to say that it does not care about the community, it does not care about couples, and it especially does not care about children. Staver here simply repeats the obvious: marriage has always been about a man and a woman. And it has always been about the possibility of procreation. Societies have a lot at stake when it comes to the next generation. In order to survive, societies must ensure that each new generation carries forth its values, it virtues and its visions. And no one can better ensure this than a child's mother and father. But in separating children from a mother and a father, societies are committing social suicide. The truth is, children need a mother and a father, period. The evidence is by now as overwhelming as it is familiar. Yet restating the obvious has become the order of the day. And Staver does a good job of marshalling the evidence. The values of two-parent families, the risks of the homosexual lifestyle, the differences between heterosexual and homosexual relationships are all detailed here. Evidence, not emotion, should channel this debate, and Staver provides copiously footnoted documentation on all these points. He has detailed chapters, for example, on why sexual preference is not a civil right. And he shows how sexuality-based lifestyles are not on a par with the immutable characteristics of race, color, or national origin. While governments are obliged to show respect to all people, they are not obliged to recognize and sanction any and every behavior and lifestyle choice. He also highlights the dangers of granted special rights based on sexual preference. He notes that vilification legislation and hate crime laws are increasingly including sexual orientation in the list of protected characteristics. This puts many groups at risk, especially religious bodies who should have the right to speak out on behaviors they regard as unwelcome. In the US the judiciary is in many cases penalizing and punishing those who simply wish to stand up for family and faith values. Churches and families are being forced to embrace a lifestyle that is at odds with their cherished beliefs. Staver rightly notes that this debate is the flash point of the culture wars. And the stakes are high. As the saying goes, the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. And many homosexual activists have been clear as to why they want marriage and adoption rights. As one lesbian put it, "Whoe

A Great Book by a Frontline Fighter for Morality in the USA!

This is a great book that is packed with great background information and the latest developments in the battle to save America from Same Sex Marriage. This book reads reasonably quickly, yet does not skimp on information, and gives an excellent introduction and explanation of the many social and legal factors that have led to the sudden demand by homosexual activists to legalize homosexual marriage. On page 8, Mat Staver succintly comes to the point of this cultural anomaly of homosexual marriage: "The problem with endorsing gay marriage is not that it would allow a handful of people to choose alternative family norms, but that it would require society at large to gut marriage of its central presumptions about family in order to accomodate a few adults' desires." Most every statement is backed up by footnote sources collected in the back of the book, for verification and digging deeper. This book does a wonderful job of compiling the most pertinent information. Staver shows how homosexuality is too often glorified and idealized in the media, while the darker truths of the homosexual lifestyle are ignored and suppressed. Research in the few locations where homosexual marriage is already a reality reveals that though the stigma of homosexuality has been removed, and homosexuality heavily endorsed, the homosexual population still suffers a higher rate of mental illnesses than the heterosexual population. Domestic violence in same sex couples is higher than with normal couples. Life expectancy is lower, while sexually transmitted diseases are significantly higher in the homosexual population, even to include medical problems that are virtually unheard of outside homosexual groups, such as Gay Bowel Syndrome. Interestingly, where homosexual marriage is legal, there is not a large percentage of same sex marriages occurring! Rather, since marriage becomes meaningless to the culture, there are fewer HETEROsexual marriages occurring. More babies are being born outside of marriage, with much fewer eventual marriages, in countries that have legitimized homosexual marriage. Mat Staver explains homosexuality from a historical, psychiatric point of view. Even as far back as Sigmund Freud, homosexuality was known to have its origins most significantly in the family dynamics, most typically caused by an overwhelming mothering style (by mom), but an absent, indifferent, or abusive fathering style (by dad), concerning homosexual males. For lesbians, childhood abuse or molestation is a signicant factor, where subconsciously the victim comes to the belief that it is NOT SAFE to be a female. "Same-Sex Marriage: Putting Every Household at Risk," also does a terrific job in explaining the bogus Civil Rights angle of homosexual marriage, compared to a brief, enlightening history of the REAL Civil Rights fight of Martin Luther King, fighting to end racism. This book also gives a good overview of homosexual activism techniques, attempts to silence the church a