Wait, Maine 'pro-fams' are planning to use churches against our rights? That's different.

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05/21/2012

by Jeremy Hooper

One of the three coalitions fighting against civil equality in Maine has announced that they will begin fundraising on June 17, in honor of daddies. They are doing this in churches, of course:

Our plan is to launch a fundraising campaign that will start with churches throughout Maine taking a special offering for our efforts on Fathers’ Day.

We will provide bulletin inserts and other promotional materials to prepare and remind church goers of this very critical offering. We have checked this strategy out with the Ethics Commission, and it is perfectly legal. Watch for more details. Your enthusiastic support and promotion of this offering could make all the difference in our results.

I need your help as a pastor and spiritual leader in your community. Will you and your people pray for every aspect of this campaign, especially as I endeavor to raise funds? Will you please let me know if your church will participate? Will you be a steward with your leadership and influence with other pastors with whom you fellowship?

We did not pick this fight. I am fully aware of all the challenges surrounding this sensitive issue, not to mention the financial difficulties we are all facing. If there is one thing I lean upon, however, it is the sovereignty of God. I am convinced there is a way to conduct this campaign in a manner that will glorify the Lord.
[SOURCE: Christian Civic League of Maine]

I can't help but note the irony in the first line, with the apostrophe after the "s" in fathers. That would imply two dads worthy of celebration, not one. I'm certainly on board with that pluralization!

But besides that support for multi-papa fams, we are basically getting more of the same from those who think their religious whims should trump civil rights. They are using churches to raise money, rallying pastors to stand against marriages that they will never be forced to perform, and seizing God for their cause. Oh, and of course these Mainers are denying that they "picked this fight," even though we are talking about a state where same-sex couples were already granted the right to marry by the fair and free actions of the state legislature, only to have these same folks who crafted the above text launch a ballot campaign that took away the right. Reliably self-centered.

It's all so boring at this point. Of course our boredom is what they are hoping for, as we nearing the point where complacency is the only thing that can defeat us. So please, in this coming season with four—count 'em!—four ballot campaigns likely in four different state, do your best to stay vigilant. There's a great, church/state-separated nation at stake.

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