PRESIDENT Barrack Obama’s announcement that he now personally agrees with same-sex marriage has polarised the United States, with 21 states already opposing the edict, and bringing the Democratic administration into direct conflict with Christianity, while giving new meaning to the conclusion of the Presidential swearing-in oath: “So help me God”!

Will it be abandoned in November?

Meanwhile, presidential hopeful, Governor Mitt Romney, has again categorically stated his belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. His position is expected to swing a significant number of Christian voters to his side, be they evangelicals, independents or various other Christian religions. To politicise Christian marriage, a cardinal religious principle of Christianity, is deemed to be heresy that could result in the Democratic administration becoming a single-term Government.

The official Vatican newspaper had already reported: “The Catholic Church contests these revolutionary innovations which, in the name of freedom, seek to legitimise a union regarded by the universal consciousness as going against nature.”

Initially, the same-sex marriage policy would impact on the question of adoptions by gay couples from one of the numerous adoption centres and fostering agencies located throughout the United States, operated by the Catholic church and other religious organisations. The Christian churches are influenced on religious grounds from placing children in the homes of same-sex couples, where it is more than an educated guess that the children, as they grow older, would eventually conform to the couples’ lifestyle.

Another aspect of the same-sex marriage policy could coerce Christian marriage preparation, guidance counsellors, retreat houses, conference centres and hostels to accept gay couples, teaching that homosexuality is the moral equivalent of heterosexual marriage and could also be compulsory in religious schools. Within the super-developed countries of the Western world, such as the United States of America, all historical events are followed by the dissipation of moral and spiritual values similar to Greco/Roman times, with the ascendancy of materialism, secularism and intellectual pride which spawn the related ills of greed, corruption and lawlessness.

The symptoms of this development are evident in today’s Western world that forms a significant part of the worldwide threat to Christianity, which increases daily and boosts the growth of Islam. In further support of this observation is the resurgence of the far right politically typified by the ‘Immortals’, a neo-Nazi German group of significant size to warrant the Government’s concern.

The same is true of the ‘Golden Dawn’ party in Greece, which obtained a noticeable percentage of the votes in the latest election. The recent presidential election in France has also brought to the fore the far right party which obtained a considerable percentage of the national vote, and in the UK where there already exists a vociferous right-wing party, while in Norway the trial of the ultra right-wing maniac Anders Breivet continues, for killing over 70 innocent persons.

The “writing is on the wall”, and if governments continue to pander to the left for popularity to gain votes by continuous concessions, thereby taking the line of least resistance, the stage would be set as in the 1930s for eventual catastrophe.

Cardinal O’Brien, Britain’s most senior Catholic, has observed: “As an institution, marriage long predates the existence of any state or government. It was not created by governments and should not be changed by them. Instead, recognising the innumerable benefits which marriage brings to society, they should act to protect and uphold marriage, not attack or dismantle it.

“Same-sex marriage would eliminate entirely in law the basic idea of a mother and a father for every child. It would create a society which deliberately chooses to deprive a child either of a mother or a father. The Universal Declaration on human rights is crystal clear: Marriage is a right which applies to men and women, the family is the natural and fundamental group unity of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

The universal truth is so self-evident that it shouldn’t need to be repeated. If the Government attempts to demolish a universally recognised human right they will have forfeited the trust which society has placed in them and their intolerance will shame their nation in the eyes of the world”.

President Obama’s announcement is another capitulation in the face of populist pressure following their strident demand to legalise abortion and homosexuality, abandon capital punishment, legalise euthanasia and same-sex marriages, legalise dangerous drugs, and under-aged and adult prostitution, etc… the tedious recital is not exhaustive.

Given Jamaicans’ affinity for the American lifestyle, Christians at home need to be alert should any attempt be made to devalue Christian principles and practices. The reaction so far of the Jamaican church leaders has been tantamount to a whimper that borders on acquiescence, rather than outrage, given the heretical nature of the announcement. Expressing “disappointment” at the edict in the face of such a serious transgression of Christian teaching is in itself disappointing.

Jamaica’s destiny is the responsibility of its citizens and their children, and must be impervious to any extraneous influence detrimental to the national culture. As a Christian country, our battle hymn must be: “Onward Christian soldiers, onwards as to war, with the Cross of Jesus, going on before”!