LCMS President Gerald B. Kieschnick is among 43 U.S. religious leaders who have signed an open letter calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Declaring 
Stating that marriage is sanctioned and ordained by God, the letter says marriage both precedes and sustains civil society. It also says marriage is important for the rearing of children “as they flourish best under the long-term care and nurture of their father and mother.”
“This is a very imporant matter. It deals with the fabric of our society,” Kieschnick told Reporter. “From a Christian leadership perspective, I believe my speaking out also reflects the beliefs of the people of our Synod.”
Kieschnick cited a resolution adopted by a 98 percent vote at the 2004 LCMS convention. It affirmed that on the basis of Scripture, marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman. Resolution 3-05A also urged members of the Synod “to give a public witness from Scripture against the social acceptance and legal recognition of homosexual ‘marriage.'”
Expressing long-term concern with rates of divorce, out-of-wedlock births, and absentee fathers, the American church leaders say they have watched “with extreme alarm the growing trend of some courts to make marriage an elastic concept capable to accommodate any individual preference.
“This does not so much modify or even weaken marriage as abolish it,” the letter states. “The danger this betokens for family life and a general condition of social justice and ordered liberty is hard to overestimate.”
Encouraging citizens to support S.J. Res. 1, the Marriage Protection Amendment, the leaders say, “We are convinced that this is the only measure that will adequately protect marriage from those who would circumvent the legislative process and force a redefinition of it on the whole of our society.”
Other signers of the letter include Roman Catholic bishops, the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, Jewish rabbis, an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and leaders of evangelical church groups.
A Web site provides more information about the proposed amendment.
Posted April 27, 2006
