Creation Museum's Ken Ham Says Justices 'Will Give an Account' Before God
Ken Ham, the president and CEO of Answers in Genesis and the Creation Museum, said that the Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of same-sex marriage in two major cases on Wednesday will one day "give an account" before God for their decisions.
"Supreme Court defies God's Word," Ham wrote in a Facebook message on Wednesday. "They may have the say in this country now – but God has the last say. One day these justices who voted against God's Word concerning marriage will give an account to the One they have really shaken their fists at."
The creationist was referring to the Supreme Court's decisions on same-sex marriage on Wednesday concerning the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8, both of which went 5-4 in favor of gay marriage. Same-sex couples will now be able to get married in California, while on a federal level they will enjoy the same tax, health and retirement benefits that are available to married heterosexual couples.
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A number of conservative groups, including the Roman Catholic Church, have spoken out against the decisions. Ham, whose Creation Museum follows a literal interpretation of the Bible, argued in a blog post for Answers in Genesis earlier this week that marriage between a man and a woman is an institution set up by God.
"There are many passages of Scripture that make it very clear that marriage is only between one man and one woman," Ham wrote, offering two examples – one in Matthew 19:4-6 where Jesus points out that "a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh," and the other in Malachi 2:14–15 which reads: "Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring."
The Creation Museum's president highlighted that God made marriage "to produce godly offspring," for which both a man and a woman are needed.
In several other Facebook posts, Ham pointed to President Barack Obama's support of gay marriage as being one of the influences behind the growth of the same-sex marriage movement.
In May 2012, Obama explained that his views on same-sex marriage had "evolved" over the years, and that he now supports gay marriage.
"Over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married," Obama said then.
On Thursday, Obama called the Supreme Court decision on DOMA a "victory for American democracy."
"It's my personal belief, but I'm speaking now as a president not as a lawyer, that if you marry someone in Massachusetts and you move somewhere else, you're still married," Obama said while on an official trip to Senegal. "We're going to be evaluating all these issues."
The Supreme Court's decisions for now still allow states to decide on their own the legality of same-sex marriage.
