Does the Supreme Court decision constitutionalizing same-sex
marriage mean we've lost the culture war and need to raise
the white flag? (As should be obvious, "we" here are
traditional Catholics, evangelical Protestants, and others
who hold similar views on social issues.)
The Jesuit weekly America thinks that the answer is yes. An
editorial in the magazine's July 20-27 issue, saying what the
church ought to do after the court's June 26 ruling in
Obergefell vs. Hodges, says this:
"With the Obergefell decision, it is increasingly clear that
those who believe the civil law ought to reflect traditional
Judeo-Christian values have lost not just these most recent
battles but the war itself. New York Times columnist David
Brooks, a self-described conservative who is sympathetic to
religion, recently called on 'social conservatives' to
'consider putting aside, in the current climate, the culture
war oriented around the sexual revolution.'"
It would be interesting to know which values America believes
the law should reflect instead of traditional Judeo-Christian
ones. But leaving that aside, there are several reasons why
the magazine is wrong.
For one thing, the culture war isn't, and never has been, a
single-issue struggle over sexual morality. At its heart are
issues like abortion, assisted suicide, euthanasia, and other
horrors just visible on the horizon that threaten the
sanctity of human life. Abandoning the fight for laws that
defend life would be an irresponsible response to a 5-4
Supreme Court decision favoring same-sex marriage
Besides, even on marriage - or perhaps especially on marriage
-- why suppose that our opponents, having won in Obergefell,
will now call it a day? After all, they themselves have made
it clear they mean to use coercion to force compliance with
the new regime.
Suppliers of wedding services - bakers of wedding cakes,
wedding photographers, florists - are already targets. The
tax-exempt status of church-related schools that decline to
teach the merits of same-sex marriage may be next (the
Solicitor General of the United States said so earlier this
year). Should we throw these people and institutions
overboard in our rush to quit the culture war?
And then there's the unavoidable fact that giving up the
fight in the present circumstances would amount to implicitly
conceding that a de facto redefinition of marriage leaving
out procreation - something that's necessary to the
acceptance of same-sex unions as marriages - is an acceptable
and even healthy thing for society. As a matter of public
policy, that is a perilous step for a nation to take.
The America editorial writer appears greatly impressed by the
shift in public opinion, including Catholic opinion, that's
swung in favor same-sex marriage in the last few years. The
shift certainly has taken place, but frankly I'm not so
impressed.
For years, after all, the media of news and entertainment
have waged a relentless campaign to persuade Americans that
the gay rights agenda deserves their support. It's hardly
surprising that this steady battering by propaganda has
produced its intended result.
And Catholics? People sometimes suppose that Catholics are
getting an earful on social issues every Sunday at Mass. But
in the two decades that gay marriage has been an item on the
national agenda, I can recall having heard it mentioned
exactly once by a priest speaking from the pulpit of a parish
church. Add to that the existence of a large body of
distracted, inarticulate laity, and you start to see why the
church hasn't done so well in the culture war lately. Keep it
up, and we really will need that white flag.