Faiths File Amicus Brief on Marriage Cases Before Tenth Circuit Court

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ^ | 10 February 2014

[restornu]

News Release —  10 February 2014

Faiths File Amicus Brief on Marriage Cases

Before Tenth Circuit Court

Salt Lake City  — 

Five religious organizations, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, filed an amicus ("friend-of-the-court") brief today with the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The brief addresses two cases before the court that seek to redefine traditional marriage.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Association of Evangelicals, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod filed the brief collectively.

An amicus brief (or amicus curiae brief) is filed by individuals or organizations who, while not a party to a lawsuit, have a strong interest in or knowledge of the subject matter. The intent is to provide the court with information about the effects of a decision beyond the parties involved in the case. 

"Our faith communities bear no ill will toward same-sex couples, but rather have marriage-affirming religious beliefs that merge with both practical experience and sociological fact to convince us that retaining the husband-wife marriage definition is essential," the brief explains.

From the perspective of each faith's tradition individually, as well as collectively, the brief outlines why "marriage between a man and a woman is sanctioned by God as the right and best setting for bearing and raising children."

The brief also explains why the support of religious organizations and believers for traditional marriage laws “by no stretch undermines their constitutionality” under the federal Establishment Clause.

And the brief concludes that laws protecting traditional marriage “are entitled to be judged on their merits based on settled rules of law — not on a more demanding standard born of suspicion toward religion, religious believers, or their values.”

Read the full brief here

[alancarp]

Huh. The LDS Church complaining about the redefinition of traditional marriage. Now that’s funny, right there.

[restornu]

Huh. The LDS Church complaining about the redefinition of traditional marriage. Now that’s funny, right there.

***

why

[restornu]

Huh. The LDS Church complaining about the redefinition of traditional marriage. Now that’s funny, right there.

***

why

[restornu]

Huh. The LDS Church complaining about the redefinition of traditional marriage. Now that’s funny, right there.

The Family

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A Proclamation to the World

The First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.

http://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation

[alancarp]

Surprised I have to explain: the LDS church started the polygamy thing and then had to renege on that to gain admittance for Utah as a state.

[restornu]

This proclamation was read by President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of his message at the General Relief Society Meeting held September 23, 1995, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

[restornu]

You do not understand our religion that was an ordinance from the Lord, and when the mission was completed the souls who were to enter earth in this fashion, this ordinance of the Lord was no longer needed and will never be re-instated we are in the last dispensation there will be no more dispensation.

[alancarp]

I also don't buy that... the polgamy policy was changed under duress from the US Government, not from any divine revelation. In fact, I just read through Woodruff's 1890 Manifesto, and it pretty much claims that polygamy was never a teaching of the LDS church - which of course was a bald-faced lie:

Quoting: "I, therefore, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, do hereby, in the most solemn manner, declare that these charges are false. We are not teaching polygamy or plural marriage, nor permitting any person to enter into its practice, and I deny that either forty or any other number of plural marriages have during that period been solemnized in our Temples or in any other place in the Territory."

Obviously other Mormon groups though that was also wrong, and continued the practice.

In any case, my point was about the changes in practice over time and the church now signing on to this court fight, which seems ironic at the very least. I wasn't casting dispersions on the faith... at least not then... but merely pointing out that history didn't exactly agree with this position, regardless of formal statements to the contrary.

[restornu]

fine believe what you want if that were the case it would have been rescinded sooner, instead of all the aggregation for man here on the earth, the Prophet had to wait until the Lord was ready.

But think what you want!

Have a nice day!:)

[rjsimmon]

You do not understand our religion that was an ordinance from the Lord

How about someone who was LDS? I was born and raised in the LDS faith until I found Christ.

Christ Himself said it in Matthew 19:5 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh".

Wife, not wives. Wife. Two, not many. Two.

[Gamecock]

Why?

I think you know.

[Katarina]

Thank you for posting this. I am so proud of how this church has taken a stand on what God says about marriage and the family.

[restornu]

You can take it out of context but he was talking about in general unless the Lord says other wise.

Because in each dispensation on earth there was plural marriage an ordinance of the Lord, not every child of God received this ordinance.

BTW this is off topic from the thread which is trying to preserves One man One women as the family united but some here are so toxic and dull they miss the real fight here on earth they rather go back to the 1800’s go figure...

[restornu]

Thank you it is sad some really don’t appreciate the Church efforts they rather stay in kindergarten and throw mud, instead of growing up!

[rjsimmon]

You can take it out of context but he was talking about in general unless the Lord says other wise.

Because in each dispensation on earth there was plural marriage an ordinance of the Lord, not every child of God received this ordinance.

I never take out of context what Christ has said. Good ol' Brother Joseph and Brigham did that in spades. God made one man and one woman to be joined in marriage. It was through the hardness of mans heart that he allowed plurality in marriage. Never once did God authorize it.

[restornu]

Christ Himself said it in Matthew 19:5 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”.

Wife, not wives. Wife. Two, not many. Two

***
Yeah will Joseph had to work seven years before he could marry Rachel and but instead Laban said marry Leah first and than Joseph had to work serve more years before he could marry Rachel.

It is because of reading the Book of Mormon when I read the Bible I have more knowledge to understand that passages that seem open ended.

Moses is a testament when he had to fill in the blanks of our the beginning on earth, there is more to our history than hand full of pages, in each dispensation our records had to be restored, this time the Lord held his knowledge on another hemisphere to come forth in the Latter Days the Book of Mormon.

[rjsimmon]

Joseph was swindled by his father-in-law, not God.

Read the BoM all you wish, but it in no wise is another testament to Christ. It is pure and simple fantasy, concocted by a convicted con man. There was no “land between the east sea and the west sea” and just how did Mormon get to Palmyra? Did he walk all the way from Central America? Or was the land between the waters in North America? Guess those Indiant burial mounds WERE NOT the cities Bro. Joseph said, hmmm?

[VerySadAmerican]

And all those ancient wars that were fought in New York. They’re still looking for artifacts. /s

[rjsimmon]

And all those ancient wars that were fought in New York. They’re still looking for artifacts. /s

Yup. Or how they were able to sail from the Saudi peninsula all the way to the Americas and not hit India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea or the Philippines, and NOT land in South America...

Or how all of the names Bro. Joseph came up with were from a (then)newly discovered island off the coast of Africa? Namely the Comoros?