Proposed Marriage Amendment Violates Separation of Church and State

May 25, 2004

Source: Americans United for Separation of Church and State

http://www.au.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6649&abbr=pr&JServSessionIdr011=uuwvn9f961.app13a&security=1002&news_iv_ctrl=1241

On May 25, 2004 Americans United for Separation of Church and State reported, "A proposed 'marriage amendment' to the U.S. Constitution would undercut religious liberty in America and write the Religious Right's views into law for everyone to follow, according to Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution will hold a hearing May 13 on U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's Federal Marriage Amendment. Musgrave is scheduled to testify, along with failed Supreme Court candidate and Religious Right favorite Robert Bork and Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for TV preacher Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice. The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director, said the marriage amendment would give constitutional endorsement to some religious traditions while denying the free exercise rights of others. 'This unwise proposal would give a federal government blessing to the marriage rites of some religious communities and make the practices of other faiths illegal,' Lynn charged. 'That's totally unacceptable in a nation that respects religious pluralism and diversity.' Lynn said the amendment's broad language limiting marriage to unions of one man and one woman would effectively prefer majority religions over others."