In
my State of Maryland, a fierce debate rages
that consumes much of the evening news coverage
tonight. Following a determined campaign by
those who desperately desire the perversion
of homosexuality to be “normalized” by the
coercive power of the civil government, a Maryland
Circuit Court Judge has issued an opinion declaring
that the 1972 statute recognizing that marriage
is only between a man and a woman, cannot,
in her view, pass constitutional scrutiny.
Since it has been widely reported that the ACLU assisted the plaintiffs
in this case by “judge shopping” to find a sympathetic court, the decision
was not surprising nor was its timing. Since the certain appeal and
review of this case by the Maryland Court of Appeals (Maryland’s “Supreme
Court”) is not likely to take place until after the election of a new
legislature this November, those Maryland office holders who are beholding
to the homosexual lobby desire NOT to take a position that would cost
them votes with the vast majority of Maryland citizens.
I am delighted to report to you that some names that are familiar to
those who have been involved with Institute on the Constitution have
been very active during this battle.
Our Director, Don Dwyer, elected to the Maryland House of Delegates
in 2002, has been championing the defense of God-ordained marriage
in the Maryland legislature and was all over the news tonight. Don
was impressive and articulate as he called for his fellow legislators
to obey their oaths of office and not let the judiciary usurp the authority
of the law making body.
Pastor David Whitney, our Senior Instructor at IOTC, testifying today
before the Judiciary Committee of the Maryland House of Delegates,
exhorted the lawmakers to be courageous and to impeach the judge on
the basis of her incompetence.
Former IOTC teacher and current talk WCBM radio talk show host Tres
Kerns has been very active in speaking out and organizing resistance
to judicial tyranny in Maryland.
Susan Scanlon, our Operations Director, has also donated much time
and energy, both precious commodities to her since she is a wife and
an evening law student.
Anne Arundel County Clerk of the Court Robert Duckworth gave a stirring
speech in his testimony today in Annapolis, declaring that as an elected
official charged with the duty of performing civil marriages in the
county HE WILL NOT, under any circumstances, obey any order of any
court to conduct same sex “marriages”. We are most grateful for his
principled stand on this issue.
All of these people deserve our commendation and support. They have
been busy plowing their row in His field. They have been doing what
many of you across the country have also been doing: taking the knowledge
learned from our study of American history and the principles of American
government and working hard, as God has directed and inspired, to make
practical applications. They, like many of you, are “walking the walk!”
As I contemplate the work that I see God doing through these fine people,
I am encouraged by their example and their spirit.
They know, as you know, that any purported “decision” by any judge
that says that a man can marry a man is no more valid than an opinion
declaring that Michael Peroutka can float across his family room. The
judge, in both cases, is up against the LAW OF NATURE and NATURE’S
GOD.
You see, in addition to the fact that, in the American system, legislatures,
NOT courts, are entrusted with authority to declare man-made law, NO
INSTITUTION of civil government has authority to rewrite the God-ordained
law of gravity nor the moral law found in the Bible.
Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Laws of England, declared that
there were three categories of law. Revealed Law (Bible), The Law of
Nature (reason and conscience, “written on the heart”) and Municipal
Law (made by man). Blackstone’s influence can be seen in the Declaration
of Independence where Jefferson relied on the Law of Nature and of
Nature’s God as justification for America’s right to self-government.
No Municipal Law can be considered valid if it conflicts with the Bible
or the Law of Nature. This is why stealing or murder cannot be lawful
even if declared so by a legislature. Such a “law” violates the higher
moral law and is void not law at all. Being void, it must be resisted.
This is why Roe v. Wade is NOT law.
This is also why Judge Murdock ought to be impeached. Declaring marriage
between a man and a man indicates that she does not understand the
Source and Nature of law. Therefore, she is unqualified for the office.
For God, Family and the Republic,
Michael Anthony Peroutka
