Christians Mark Some Victories in Marriage, Abortion Battles
As the American people celebrate an historic victory for Barack Obama as the next president, many Christians are marking victories of their own with the passage of several state amendments protecting traditional marriage.
U.S. voters in Florida and Arizona approved measures banning same-sex marriage. And in Arkansas, voters passed a measure banning unmarried couples, that would include homosexuals, from adopting children.
The vote on the marriage amendment in California, meanwhile, is still undecided with supporters of the gay-marriage ban celebrating early poll numbers while opponents argue that too many votes remained uncounted.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
For Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel – a nonprofit organization that defends the sanctity of human life and traditional families – the passage of at least the marriage amendment in Florida was a "bright star on an otherwise dismal night, in which America elected the most liberal President in her history."
With Obama poised to step into the Oval Office, many Christians are keeping a wary eye on moral issues. Some are nervous about an Obama presidency and what that means for traditional families as well as the unborn.
"While we celebrate the transcendence of race as a dominant issue in U.S. politics – and the expiation of America's past racial sins represented by Obama's triumph – the truth is that Obama is a far-left ideologue on abortion and homosexuality," said Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth about Homosexuality, in a statement Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the pro-gay group Family Equality Council called Obama's election a defining moment in history as it noted Obama as the "first presidential candidate to directly address LGBT family issues."
"President-Elect Obama's victory is particularly meaningful for the millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) parents raising children in this country and their extended family and friends," the council stated, adding that Obama had earlier written to the group "saying that we have 'to do more to support and strengthen LGBT families,' including 'equality in relationship, family and adoption rights.'"
But many Christians are still standing for pro-life and family issues and are encouraging others not to abandon the struggle.
"This is no time for surrender or the abandonment of our core principles," said preeminent evangelical R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. "We should look for opportunities to work with the new President and his administration where we can. We must hope that he will lead and govern as the bridge-builder he claimed to be in his campaign. We must confront and oppose the Obama administration where conscience demands, but work together where conscience allows."
Abortion bans in Colorado and South Dakota were rejected and an assisted suicide measure was approved by Washington state voters.
"We must pray that God would change President-Elect Obama's mind and heart on issues of our crucial concern," Mohler urged. "May God change his heart and open his eyes to see abortion as the murder of the innocent unborn, to see marriage as an institution to be defended, and to see a host of issues in a new light."
