Prominent Christian Leaders Including Mike Huckabee Threaten 'Civil Disobedience' If Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage
Several prominent Christian leaders including recently declared 2016 GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, pastor John Hagee and Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, say if the U.S. Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage next month they have no plans to honor that law.
The Christian leaders are among more than 36,000 people who have signed The Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage co-drafted by Deacon Keith Fournier, a Catholic deacon, and Mat Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel, according to Fox News. Rick Scarborough, president of Vision America Action and James Dobson, founder of Family Talk Radio were also involved in organizing the pledge.
"We're sending a warning to the Supreme Court and frankly any court that crosses the line on the issue of marriage," said Staver.
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"We stand together in defense of marriage and the family and society founded upon them. While we come from a variety of communities and hold differing faith perspectives, we are united in our common affirmation of marriage," states the pledge.
"If the decisions of the court are not based on the Constitution and reason, and especially if they are contrary to the natural created order, then the people will lose confidence in the court as an objective arbiter of the law. If the people lose respect for the court, the court's authority will be diminished," the pledge continues.
"We stand united together in defense of marriage. Make no mistake about our resolve. While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross," the pledge ends.
Staver revealed in the Fox report that the group is prepared to engage in "civil disobedience" to defend marriage.
"Yes, I'm talking about civil disobedience," he said. "I'm talking about resistance and I'm talking about peaceful resistance against unjust laws and unjust rulings."
He further explained: "I'm calling for people to not recognize the legitimacy of that ruling because it's not grounded in the Rule of Law. … They need to resist that ruling in every way possible. In a peaceful way — they need to resist it as much as Martin Luther King Jr. resisted unjust laws in his time."
