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Supreme Court Decisions a Week Later
I have been mulling over the Supreme Court decisions of a week ago. Perhaps the most important observation to make is that 25 years ago such a decision would have been extremely unlikely. It became possible because our culture has shifted significantly in its attitude towards the issue of who should be married. So the court did not create the situation. It reacted to one. The issue was not just one of law but of culture. So we face the reality of how our culture is changing. I thought of an analogy this week. People in our culture today get divorced for all kinds of reasons far beyond those Scripture…
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I read the news today, oh boy: DOMA goes down. Time to step up the love
On Thursday the New York Times headlines announced, “Supreme Court Bolsters Gay Marriage with Two Major Rulings.” They could just as well have read, “Supreme Court Bolsters Gay Marriage, Accuses DOMA Defenders of Malice.” On what basis did the majority rule? The U.S. Constitution says nothing about a “right to marriage.” All marriage laws in our nation have always been state laws. Have gays seeking to marry been deprived of due process? The court has previously ruled that the Due Process Clause protects only “those fundamental rights and liberties which are, objectively, ‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition or equal protection,'” a hard case to make since Massachusetts…
