Allen gets clergy support, reaffirms opposition to gay marriage
George Allen
Republican U.S. Senate candidate George Allen joined a diverse group of clergy members today in Richmond and reaffirmed his support for laws prohibiting same sex marriage.
“I think it’s really important to protect the values and the will of the people of Virginia,” Allen said while flanked by about three dozen faith leaders at Community Baptist Church.
President Barack Obama elevated the marriage issue in May when he announced that he supports gay marriage. Virginia voters in 2006 passed a state constitutional amendment affirming its ban on same-sex marriage, an amendment Allen supports.
“That’s the will of the people,” said Allen, a former governor and senator. “This is a representative democracy. And that ought to be enforced and upheld.”
Democratic candidate Tim Kaine favors “relationship equality” that would effectively give same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples. But Kaine also maintains that churches should remain free to decide what unions they will recognize for religious purposes, a spokeswoman said. Kaine also supports repealing the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Allen today also criticized a provision of the federal health care overhaul that requires contraception coverage in health care plans, including for employees of religious-affiliated institutions.
“This is not an issue of contraception,” Allen said. “I do not want to ban contraceptives. This is an issue of religious liberty and religious freedom.”
Allen touched on those issues before making the pivot to jobs, which he called “by far the biggest concern on the minds of people throughout our commonwealth.”
“If one has a job, they’re taking care of themselves,” Allen said. “They’re not dependent on someone else. I think life is a quest to be independent, self-reliant.”
The clergy backing Allen today included Bishop E.W. Jackson, one of three Republican candidates Allen defeated in the June GOP primary.
“I have to tell you that the family is under grave assault,” Jackson said. “ And Governor Allen seems to know that as well as anybody that I have listened to or talked to. He understands that not only must the family not be tinkered with, not be redefined, not have social engineering games played with it, but he also understands that the best program to strengthen the family is a job.”
– Michael Sluss
July 24, 2012 - 6:56 PM
Thank you George Allen, for standing up for the sacred bond of marriage of 1 man and 1 woman.
Good job Allen. As for me, I remember when gay meant happy. They are actually simply homsexuals wanting approval for their immoral behavior, as well as a political segment looking for more power.
It is becoming harder and harder to stand up for your beliefs these days. Christo-phobia is rampant. So, it means a lot for Allen to do what he did.
Allen’s “values” are not the same as the majority of Americans. Allen is anti American and unpatriotic for wanting to take away freedoms from a group of people. Laws against gay marriage will soon be in the dustbin of history along with those other bigoted laws we used to have outlawing interracial marriage.
“Christo-phobia”
Ungrounded fears of fat governors from New Jersey?
@ 4
Gay marriage is a FREEDOM? And comparing homosexual marriage to inter racial heterosexual marriage is just silly. Would marrying inanimate objects be a freedom. Where does it stop? Can marriage be inner species, group? Should there be any rules, standards etc? And why do the gays not want to accept Civil Unions with exactly the same benefits except for the word “marriage”… I answered that @2…and the fact is they want more than “equality”… and by preferencing them over others in jobs .. etc. We are really committing bigotry against others.
Well said, Jack Mcguire.
There is not a single legitimate argument against same-sex marriage. It’s all bigotry tarted up with the Jesus card.
Killings in a theatre, riots in california, murder in Roanoke,thousands of innocent babies aborted. All this week. If you kick God and His word out of your society you reap what you sow.
Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
#9 Good thing there weren’t any murders, shootings, or riots before we kicked god and his word out of our society, whenever that was.
@9 – Wow. Impressively relevant.
@10 – It’s been gone for a while gdad. Read the passage. It’s spot on with today’s society.
Ok gdad – what is your explanation of the increase in violence and crime and hatred and division since the “landmark” SCOTUS decisions of the early 70′s.
It seems that someone who believes in natural selection and evolution would be scratching their well educated heads trying to figure out why, the smarter we get, the “wiser” we become, the worse our society becomes.
God told us what would happen when man became autonomous and set himself (man) up as god. The Bible describes and gives the reason for the evil in modern society.
What’s your explanation?
Social injustice? I’d say that was much worse before. Yet the more we try to engineer man made social justice, the worse the world becomes. Economic injustice? We are spending more on the poor and underprivileged than ever before in history yet our society is deteriorating by leaps and bounds.
What in your estimation can explain that?
Civil Unions will never be equal to the marriage rights because there are thousands of Federal, State and Local Government laws that dole out civil rights and they all use the common legal term of “marriage”. Getting all those laws changed to allow civil union to be equal to marriage would be impossible to accomplish. That is why gay people do not want cicil unions because they are not equal and will never be equal to the rights that mariage provides. Anyone who has an objection to other people getting married are showing their bias. My religion believes in gay marriage but right now my religion is not allowed the freedom to marry it’s members. Talk about lack of religious freedom in the country. If you really believe in freedom and freedom to practice the religion of your choice and that you respect the rights of all AMericans to practice their freedom, then gay marriage should not be a concern for you. Don’t force your religion on other people as you yourself would not want me to force my religion on you.
As a matter of fact, Same-sex marriage is a freedom. It is a freedom that the homosexual community should have as surely as any other does in this world. The ONLY reason it is not already fact is religious bigotry and oppression. Comparing homosexual marriage to inter-racial heterosexual marriage is completely relevant. That too was just religious and ignorant bigotry and oppression. Comparing gay marriage with “marrying inanimate objects” is stupid beyond words. It “stops” for those so ignorant as to ask, when it is not a marriage between two sentient consenting adults. That is the only “rule” that needs to be involved.
There is no such thing as “more than “equality”, that is another ignorant, bigoted argument. No one is seeking “preferencing”, they are simply asking for the right to be treated equally. No amount of twisted thinking changes the truth, that religious bigotry has been codified into our laws and it needs to stop.
They are treated equally. They can marry anyone of the opposite sex they want to. No one is stopping them from getting married.
“There is no such thing as “more than “equality”, that is another ignorant, bigoted argument”
When you get hired because of a quota, thats “more” than equality. The absolute truth is that minorities and gays are hired many times not because of their abilities but because a business and especially govt. wants to appear diverse. A better qualified person is often turned down to satisfy this. That is wrong,flat wrong.And leads to a poor workforce.
Poor will…blacks were allowed to drink out of his water fountain and the world was never the same.
I can hear Kristen now… “Hey look, there is another black going down the street.”
I will dispute “better qualified” all day long as I do not find that to be true. Many people think much more highly of themselves and their ability than reality bears out.
As to “quotas” and what you consider “preferential” hiring, that is in direct response to discrimination and being shut out of the job market without some controls against it. The highest unemployment numbers are in the black community and that is in part due to people having the “freedom” to hire someone they prefer, “better” will always be arguable.