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Note #8538 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04469
October 19, 2004

Thousands of Christians rally for traditional marriage

by Adelle M. Banks and Itir Yakar
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON - The Rev. Thomas Wang arrived at the National Mall on Oct. 15
after spending a week driving from the San Francisco Bay area in a van that
declared "Marriage: One Man and One Woman."

	He joined thousands of evangelical Christians for "Mayday for
Marriage," a rally supporting heterosexual marriage and condemning same-sex
marriage.

	They traveled by car, bus and plane to spend three hours on the
grassy expanse in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol to hear Prison Fellowship
founder Chuck Colson, Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson and other
evangelical leaders decry a court decision in Massachusetts legalizing
same-sex marriage and promote a federal constitutional amendment that would
ban such marriages in any state.

	"Are you tired of the courts making all the decisions about the great
moral issues of our time?" Dobson asked the crowd, receiving a resounding
"yes" in response. "Do you realize that everything we care about is on the
line? It's now or never."

	The gathering was just one of a series that have taken place across
the country - three of which were linked to televised simulcasts - in which
evangelicals raised awareness about proposed constitutional amendments not
only on the national level, but on 11 state ballots Nov. 2.

	Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research
Council and master of ceremonies for the rally, made the connection to
Election Day explicit.

	"There's an election coming up and you need to vote your values," he
said, drawing cheers. "You need to vote for candidates who stand on the side
of marriage, just like you do."

	Colson, who called gay marriage an "oxymoron," explained his
opposition to same-sex marriage as a stance for children rather than against
gays.

	"It separates parenthood from marriage," he said. "Those children
need a male and female, a mother and a father role model, and you can't have
that without a mother and a father."

	Wang gave an on-stage invocation. He asked for a divine blessing on
the nation, and said he and his wife of 42 years, Rachel, were among many who
see same-sex marriage as a threat to heterosexual marriage and a more general
turn in the wrong direction for the nation.

	"This is going to undermine ... traditional marriage," said Wang, 79,
who helped coordinate attendance of Chinese Christians from around the
country. "God created Adam and Eve. He did not create Adam and Eric, nor did
he create Eve and Nancy. He created a man and a woman, and therefore, that is
who created humankind."

	Exact crowd figures were hard to come by. Asked at a press conference
about attendance, organizers declined to give a figure beyond "it was a lot."
The U.S. Park Service no longer gives crowd estimates.

	Bill Goddard, 28, of Frederick, MD, said he feels blessed by his
marriage and came to the rally in an effort to protect it.

	"Our country is built on the family," said Goddard, who accompanied
his pregnant wife. "We're messing with the foundation of this country. It's a
giant social experiment. Many people don't realize what it's going to do."

	Spectators and speakers alike worried whether God's blessings would
continue if same-sex marriages became the norm.

	"Make no mistake about it: If we allow same-sex marriage to be
foisted upon us by an imperial judiciary in the United States, God will not
bless this nation," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist
Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

	People in the crowd greeted his comment with "Amens."

	Jacques Deadwiley traveled from Monroe, NC, with his wife and
3-year-old son to express his support for the proposed federal amendment,
which was voted on in both the House and Senate but didn't receive the
required votes for passage, despite being endorsed by President Bush.

	"Once there's no differentiation between right or wrong, then what's
to stop people from crossing the line?" asked Deadwiley, a 39-year-old
general manager of a car dealership. "God created this covenant and for man
to destroy one of God's first covenants, then we're smacking God in the
face."

	Rally attendees said they were undeterred by the defeats in
Congress.They said those votes only encouraged them to stick with their
battle for as long as it takes.

	Sylvia Rhue, director of Equal Partners in Faith, a liberal-leaning
network of religious leaders who oppose the proposed amendments, said her
side isn't giving up either.

	"We understand that they're in it for the long haul and they're
welcome to that 'cause we'll be right there toe-to-toe and we will get there
before them," she said in an interview before the rally.

	The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, criticized the rally as a reflection of the
partisan leanings of conservative Christians.

	"This is a partisan political rally pure and simple," he said in a
statement. "It is intended to whip up enthusiasm for President George W. Bush
and other Republican candidates who have endorsed the Federal Marriage
Amendment."

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