Dear Marriage Supporter,

Tomorrow as we celebrate Independence Day, we're reminded of how richly blessed America has been. We're a republic founded on the principles of religious liberty, freedom and democracy, endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights. We're a nation where citizen rights come from God, not from government, and where the people are sovereign, not politicians or judges.

But those principles are under siege, by the culture, by our federal government and, increasingly, by the US Supreme Court. We need your help to fight to preserve America's founding principles such as religious liberty which is greatly at risk wherever marriage is redefined.

A majority of the US Supreme Court is perilously close to imposing same-sex marriage on the nation. For now, they've left if to the states, but for how long? They've already invalidated our federal law defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. They claimed it was enacted with animus and a bare desire to harm homosexuals, denying them basic human dignity. And they let a lower court eviscerate California's Proposition 8 because state officials abandoned their duty to defend the law.

It was a sad day for America when the Supreme Court issued their decisions, and the incredibly flawed justifications for them.

Our opponents blithely claim that religious liberty and same-sex 'marriage' can peacefully coexist, but experience shows that is not the case. Anybody who doesn't abandon their faith principles and fully cooperate with the new gay marriage regime is likely to face consequences. Unless we fight back, it will only get worse.

Minnesota is one of those states that redefined marriage and citizens were promised that this could be done while protecting religious liberty. In fact, the official description of the bill imposing gay 'marriage' emphasizes, "exemptions and protections based on religious association [are] provided for." NOM and many others warned that this was not true — that when marriage is redefined, religious liberty is the first casualty.

Sadly, it did not take very long for our predictions to be borne out. This week the state of Minnesota's Department of Human Rights issued guidelines making clear that, "The law does not exempt individuals, businesses, nonprofits, or the secular business activities of religious entities from non-discrimination laws based on religious beliefs regarding same-sex marriage." They go on to warn that anyone who refuses to accommodate same-sex 'marriage' will be subject to complaints with the department.

This is not new. It's happened virtually everywhere that marriage is redefined. The legal landscape is littered with lawsuits and other legal actions against small businesses, individuals and religious groups who refuse to ignore their beliefs about the truth of marriage. For our opponents, "religious liberty" means nothing more than the freedom to hold a belief they consider to be bigoted within the four corners of the church, but never the right to act on such a belief in the public square.

If we do not fight back against these governmental attacks on our fundamental right to act in the public square in support of the truth of marriage as God created it, then none of our cherished liberties and rights are safe.

Please give generously so that we have the resources necessary to lead this incredibly important fight for religious liberty and the truth of marriage.

May God continue to bless our nation, and her families, and may you enjoy Independence Day tomorrow in peace and love.