The following piece by Michael S. Heath originally ran as a "Maine Voices" column in the Portland Press Herald during the referendum campaign on the sexual orientation law in 2005. His prediction that homosexual marriage would become the final goal of the gay rights movement seems strangely prophetic. Heath predicted that the campaign in 2005 was merely one step in a process that would lead to a radical transformation of our society.
The men kneel before a flickering lamp and say a prayer their forefathers have said for a thousand years. Their children, having eaten their last morsel of bread, press their heads in their mothers' arms and cry softly.
These men have fought under the battle cry "Mi kanoka ba'alim Hashem," that is,
"Who among the rulers of the Earth is like you, Oh Lord God of Israel?"
The citadel of Masada and the fate of its defenders will stand forever as a reminder of the sacrifice that loyalty to the truth and higher principles requires. Those who resisted the Roman legions camped round their high mountain fortress knew well the cost of submission and defeat.
They had seen the Roman legions raze their holy temple in Jerusalem, carrying off the sacred vessels of gold and silver; and they had seen their sons and daughters sold as slaves. For the defenders of Masada, the choice was to die rather than surrender.
We, too, are engaged in a desperate struggle, a struggle fought not with military weapons, but with simple truths against an enemy armed with an arsenal of falsehood and deception. The seriousness of this struggle is not readily apparent, since the consequences are still remote in time.
Our struggle is the so-called "Culture Wars," a fight to determine whether or not society will continue to be guided by moral principles.
We have seen the pillars of the family collapse, one after the other. First came the liberalization of divorce laws, then the "Sexual Revolution." Then came abortion, as surely as night follows day. At the same time, the strange doctrines of liberalism took hold of every facet of our society - entertainment, our schools, the media, and even our churches.
As liberalism tightened its grip on these institutions, our society became progressively disordered.
Only one institution still eludes the grip of liberalism, and that is marriage, the institution on which the entire society rests. Remove marriage, and the Culture War is over. America is over. The West is over.
Yet there is not a single liberal in our state, who will admit to the simple and undeniable truth that gay marriage is the Holy Grail of the gay rights movement.
They would have the public think otherwise, even as they encourage us to join the bandwagon of nations who have legalized gay marriage - Belgium, Holland, Spain, and now Canada.
In each of these nations, liberal elites smoothed over the objections of the public with a vigorous campaign for gay rights. Their purposes were achieved quietly and incrementally, until the final goal of gay marriage was sprung on an unsuspecting public.
Gay activists often admit as much, in their own words. Anyone who would have us believe otherwise asks us to deny our reason.
But in the final analysis, reason and logic are of little use to gay marriage backers. They are desperate to keep the focus on alleged discrimination, while the broader social and ethical implications go ignored.
What, for example, is the cost to society of normalizing various forms of aberrant sexual behavior? Why should a relationship based on harmful sexual practices be accorded the sanctity of marriage?
Is it not true that gay marriage has already opened the door to polygamy? Are all aspects of the homosexual subculture as reputable and wholesome as an episode of "Father Knows Best?"
Or are there aspects of the homosexual subculture which are so deviant that they cannot be mentioned here? If so, why put such relationships on a par with marriage?
Let us not portray as wholesome and progressive what every bit of evidence proves is immoral and harmful.
Above all, let us not portray as a victory for society what may well turn out to be the Masada of the Culture Wars.
The photo shown above was taken at the University of Maine at Farmington, and shows a student trampling an American flag as part of an 'art exhibit.' Of course, trashing a sacred symbol is no more art than homosexual perversion is marriage, though liberal elites would have us think otherwise.
