California Catholic Website
Religious leaders call Prop 8 ruling 'insult' or 'victory'
Today's court ruling is a grave injustice, ignoring the reality that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. The Constitution of the United States most assuredly does not forbid the protection of the perennial meaning of marriage, one of the cornerstones of society. The people of California deserve better. Our nation deserves better. Marriage deserves better.
UPDATED 3:30 P.M.
Insulted, outraged -- or unavailable. That's how some major religious voices responded Tuesday when the 9th Circuit Court upheld a lower court ruling that overturned California's ban on gay marriage, Proposition 8. Those who back same-sex marriage, however, were quick and gleeful in public reaction.
Start with the major religious backers of Prop 8 -- Catholic, Mormon and evangelical believers.
The California Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the state's bishops, declined repeated requests to comment Tuesday, although it was one of the primary sponsors of the original, successful Proposition 8 campaign.
Ned Dolejsi, the executive director of the conference who served on the board of the Protect Marriage committee, would not comment. Their spokesperson could not be reached. California's 11 million Catholics are about 29% of the state population.
The other major religious force in the Prop 8 effort in 2008 was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Mormons did not make a direct contribution to Protect Marriage from their Salt Lake City headquarters, but they did have a letter read at every Mormon congregation in the state asking for believers to give time and money to the cause.
LDS spokesman Michael Purdy said the church regretted the ruling.
... has ruled straightforwardly that the motivation for defending traditional marriage is animus against homosexual persons.
I think that's ridiculous on its face! The defense of marriage is valued by all kinds of people. To say this is insulting to people of faith and anyone who would support a traditional concept of marriage, humanity's most central institution. To suggest the people of California can't decide by a referendum what marriage is, is an insult to democracy.
California Catholic Website - News
Start with the major religious backers of Prop 8 -- Catholic, Mormon and evangelical believers. The California Catholic Conference, the lobbying arm of the state's bishops, declined repeated requests to comment Tuesday, although it was one of the
The Catholic bishops of California are backing proposed ballot measures to require parental notification before a minor's abortion and to end use of the death penalty in the state. The endorsement, contained in a statement posted Jan. 10 on the website
In an op-ed in today's Dallas Morning News website, Rodger Jones argued that the Komen Foundation needs a new approach, like special fundraising drives for research only, or else he'll keep on walking every time he sees a pink ribbon on a box of
Quotes from an article California Catholic Daily published one week after the annual Walk for Life event. "ABC TV did a decent job covering the event. KTVU television had an article, but no video, on its website with the lead: 'Several thousand
The Obama administration's decision requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control was bound to cause an uproar among Roman Catholics and members of other faiths, no matter their beliefs on contraception. The regulation, finalized a week