Breaking Bad in the Nation's Capital

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Fifty years ago, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream:

"I have a dream...when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'"

Who would think we would live to see the day when a black Mayor of the District of Columbia would use not only local but federal funds to ban a Grammy-award winning black pastor from performing at a concert in honor of Rev. King because — he believes and says that Christ liberated him from "the sin of homosexuality."

Mayor Vincent Grey admits he made the decision to ban Donnie McClurkin from singing, in spite of a signed contract to do so, because gay activists consider him too controversial — calling him vile and claiming his performance would be at odds with the spirit of Dr. King.

The Mayor's office tried to pretend it was a mutual decision, but Pastor McClurkin is not going to let the lie stand:

The black churches in D.C. are up in arms, but they are not yet able to dislodge the new man-made moral law: "Thou shall affirm all things homosexual no matter what the Bible says." Read their statement here.

Breaking Down Intolerance With Love and Courage

When we first started to point out that gay marriage was not just going to be about private liberty and public tolerance — but would result in limits on freedom of speech and religion — many people called us liars or fools. Now, we are looking more and more like prophets. I wish it weren't so, but things, my dear friends, are breaking bad, very bad.

We will need to draw inspiration and strength from the courageous giants like Rev. Dr. King who faced a far worse barrage of hatred and unjust man-made laws than you and I (God willing) ever will have to face. Men and women like Dr. King faithfully adhered to the most often repeated command in the Bible: Be not afraid.

He spoke truth to power, and never descended to hatred. That's a man of God. That's a man for our time. That's a man for all time.

Breaking Bad in Iowa

It's hard to believe, but even in Iowa opponents of God's design for marriage have resorted to name calling, threats, and bias behavior.

In Sioux City, during the 2010 campaign to unseat three renegade judges, Scott Raasch sent this email to a Christian pastor, Rev. Cary Gordon, who campaigned against gay marriage:

Raasch wrote, "You will get what's coming to you sooner or later. I hope you rot in hell," adding, "I think there are many people that deserve to burn in hell...including you and your entire family."

These are not the words of tolerance or civility, and they certainly do not lift up human rights.

Despite these threats, Mr. Raasch now sits on the Sioux City Human Rights Commission. Even though he's since apologized for his outrageous language, can Iowans who believe in true marriage really expect justice and impartiality when the person responsible for protecting human rights so viciously attacks the right to speak the truth about marriage?

Similarly, the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, chaired by a woman who used to work for one of the judges we helped Iowans unseat, is targeting the National Organization for Marriage. After a homosexual activist filed a frivolous complaint against NOM, the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Board effectively convicted NOM in absentia, declaring NOM to be "absolutely wrong" without ever seeing the evidence.

Bias and vitriol are not things I normally think of when I think of Iowa, but this is the fight supporters of true marriage face in that state.

We will stand strong and fight back. Thank you for your words of encouragement, and your prayers.

Breaking Bad at the IRS (Still)

The administrative state has tools to make life difficult for disfavored political groups. And the IRS scandal continues to be a perfect case study.

If you do just one thing this week for marriage, please, write to the House Ways and Means Committee to:

• demand justice for pro-marriage supporters around this country

• demand they use the power of the subpoena to get to the bottom of the IRS attacks on the National Organization for Marriage, as well as other groups

• demand to know how the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) got our private tax documents. We know they originated from within the IRS itself. We know that the head of the HRC was a national campaign chairman for President Obama. Who leaked the documents to our opponents at the HRC, and what, if any, role did the White House play in this scandal?

• demand IRS Commissioner Steve Miller tell the truth about how a felony can be committed against taxpayers by releasing private information—and no-one get disciplined at all?

Please contact your congressman and demand justice for pro-marriage taxpayers in this country. You can look up your representative's contact information here.

Breaking Bad in the Private Sector

Frank Turek knows what it's like to be targeted for his views and also how a Christian hero responds. You may remember Frank from NOM's MarriageADA video:

He lost a job with Cisco Systems after a student Googled him and discovered he had written a book (check it out here) opposing gay marriage. Not for anything he said or did on the job, but for his political and religious views.

If you live in Charlotte, North Carolina, or can travel there, you can hear Frank firsthand on how to respond to persecution from a Christian worldview. He'll be at the 20th Annual National Conference on Christian Apologetics "Reasons for the Hope" Oct. 11 and 12 at the First Baptist Church Indian Trail in Charlotte.

Millenials Resist Breaking Bad and Stand for Marriage

Another reason for hope: Chris Marlink's powerful testimony "Millenials Will Save Marriage." Hundreds of young people are pledging themselves to be the MarriageGeneration:

"[H]ere's my counterintuitive thesis: Millennials, that same generation poised to throw it all away, will save marriage. They'll do it the way sailors have made progress in strong headwinds for thousands of years. They'll tack...

Over the next several weeks I'll offer a few of the tacks that millennial Christians can take to redeem and Before proceeding, let me state that I don't believe legally redefining marriage so as to include same-sex couples will be the death of marriage. As I'll explain shortly, marriage is at the center of God's redemptive plan for mankind and is beyond our ability to remake or destroy...

Millennials who hold orthodox convictions on marriage are not in a race to stop marriage from being redefined. Supposing most Americans understand marriage as "love and commitment," then let us acknowledge that this exclusively personal understanding of marriage, sundered from any of the societal implications of the union, already represents a redefinition. Same-sex "marriage" is a near unassailable eventuality if marriage means solely "love and commitment." Our task then, is not to stop a redefinition of marriage: it is to correct a redefinition. It is to redeem and restore marriage in the hearts and minds of our neighbors. If we do that, the law will follow."

Let me close with a reminder of another set of eternal words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr from a letter that he wrote while sitting in the Birmingham jail: " A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law."

Have faith and keep the faith: The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice. Can there be anything more just than preserving the sacred principle that marriage unites men and women to each other, and provides the ideal environment to raise and nurture any children that are born of that union?

Fight hard for the truth, with love, and pray for all of us on the front lines of the marriage fight.

Faithfully,

Brian S. Brown