Marriage Amendments
  by Jan Brazill

One would think that Pat Robertson has never read his Bible. In a frantic fund-raising letter, he declares that the recent Supreme Court ruling striking down a Texas law that criminalized homosexual sex opens the door to "homosexual marriage, bigamy, legalized prostitution, and even incest."

Why is he so against bigamy? The Bible shows that many biblical heroes had multiple wives. King Solomon had seven hundred of them, as well as three hundred concubines. The concubines should certainly count as legalized prostitution. And incest? According to Genesis 19:36-38, Lot fathered two biblical tribes by having incest with his daughters, and no condemnation is noted.

Robertson and other leaders of the Religious Right are hysterically declaring that this Court decision is the precursor of gay marriage in America. Long wanting to open the U.S. Constitution to the amendment process, they have seized this opportunity to band together to launch a major crusade to add a constitutional amendment that would limit marriage to one man and one woman. The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Colorado Representative Marilyn Musgrave.

As usual, the sponsors of this Amendment are very selective in the Bible verses they choose to justify their arguments. First they ignore the scores of items labeled "abominations" - many of them trivial - to focus on the one against homosexuality. Now they ignore the history of actual Bible marriages. On his website, James Dobson of Focus on the Family quotes William Maier, Psy.D. to say that "The concept of marriage has been around since the beginning. God created it and He ordained it. The book of Genesis tells us that 'a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.'" Then he goes on to assert that "His word is very clear - marriage involves one man and one woman."

But does it? A suggested "Marriage Amendment" circulating on the Internet (author unknown) offers a version based on actual Bible verses:

A Proposed Constitutional Amendment Codifying Marriage Entirely on Biblical Principles:

1. Marriage in the United States shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Genesis 29:17-28; II Samuel 3:2-5.)

2. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines in addition to his wife or wives. (II Samuel 5:13;I Kings 11:3; II Chronicles 11:21)

3. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)

4. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Genesis 24:3; Numbers 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 10:30)

5. Since marriage is for life, neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any State, nor any state or federal law, shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deuteronomy 22:19; Mark 10:9)

6. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If he refuses to marry his brother's widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe and be otherwise punished in a manner to be determined by law. (Genesis 38:6-10; Deuteronomy 25:5-10)

If members of the Religious Right insist on proposing laws based on their Bible, they should include all of it.

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