Christian Voice created controversy by claiming that the legalization of gay marriage will affect every family in the land.

Carmarthen, UK -- (SBWire) -- 10/10/2014 --Legalizing gay marriage will affect every family in the land, claimed Christian Voice.

The UK-based lobby group issued the controversial remarks following news that the way has been cleared for same-sex marriages to proceed in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The Supreme Court’s decision not to intercede in the wave of gay marriage rulings will almost immediately increase the number of states allowing same-sex marriage. But Christian Voice has warned that as this happens it will undermine the integrity of every marriage in the land by rearranging the family’s relationship to the state.

Robin Phillips, who wrote the controversial Christian Voice report, stated that “A government that recognizes such a thing as gay marriage is one that has assumed the god-like power to determined which collections of individuals constitute a ‘family.’ But by this assumption government declares both marriage and family to be little more than legal constructs at best, and gifts from the state at worst.”

Phillips, who is the author of the book Saints and Scoundrels and has campaigned widely against same-sex marriage in both American and Britain, added that “without the intervention of government, there are no pre-political, existential state of affairs that mark certain types of same-sex relationships out as being marriage within a state of nature.”

He continued: “Unlike heterosexual marriage, which exists in nature and is then recognized by the state on the basis of intrinsic goods attached to it (including, but not limited to, the assurance of patrimony), homosexual marriage is an abstract legal entity. …the only way a consensual relationship between two people of the same sex can be upgraded into marriage is if the state steps in and declares that relationship to be a marriage, in much the same way it might declare something to be a corporation or some other legal entity. But it is here that we see just how radical gay marriage really is, for it means that the government is essentially conceding that our most vital familial connections are matters only of positive law.”

When asked if this meant that the state should get out of the marriage business altogether, Phillips replied that this did not follow. “While it is a totalitarian imposition for government to acknowledge same-sex marriage, since such ‘marriages’ have no meaning outside the apparatus of a legal system, heterosexual marriages are recognized by the state on the basis of empirical boundary markers and intrinsic goods which already exist within a state of nature. These intrinsic goods include the assurance of patrimony, the integrity of inheritance, the preservation of extended relationships of kinship and the role that such relationships play as the primary social structure against the aspirations of kings, ambitious overlords and the state. The web of marriage laws that tribes and societies have produced throughout the centuries have always been posterior to these empirical realities, so that what constitutes a viable marriage and family has never been purely a matter of jurisprudence. …That is also why we can speak meaningfully of a ‘common law marriage’ even in the absence of explicit legal recognition.”

Phillips believes it is a category mistake to apply these same principles to marriages conducted between people of the same sex: “Crucially, these natural boundary markers that give marriage its legitimacy prior to legal recognition can never apply to same-sex marriage. This is because one can point neither to empirical acts nor to intrinsic goods that mark a same-sex relationship out as being ‘marriage’ in a state of nature. There are simply no non-legal conditions that allow us to distinguish a gay marriage from other types of same-sex relationships.”

Phillips is not alone in raising these concerns. In his article ‘Why Fight Same-Sex Marriage?’ Canadian theologian Douglas Farrow showed that the introduction of same-sex marriage into Canada resulted in legislation that essentially declared all marriages to be little more than a type of legal fiction.

About Robin Phillips and Christian Voice
Christian Voice is a UK charity devoted to preserving Christian values in the United Kingdom. Robin Phillips is the Press Secretary of Christian Voice, the author of Saints and Scoundrels and the proprietor of the popular blog Unpragmatic Thoughts.

Contact:
Christian Voice
Robin Phillips, Christian Voice Press Secretary
info@christianvoice.org.uk
Wernlwyd, Pen-y-bont, Carmarthen SA33 6QN
http://www.christianvoice.org.uk