2nd July, 2015
On Friday, 26 June, the US Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage throughout the nation. In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court in the United States said the Constitution mandates all 50 states to carry out and recognise marriages between people of the same sex. As the much-awaited landmark decision elicited wild jubilation and tears of joy across America, especially among the gay community, it left millions in other parts of the world in utter shock that this could come from America that prides itself as God’s Own Country.
As expected, an avalanche of reactions trailed the verdict. While President Barack Obama hailed the ruling, saying it was a victory for America, Governor Mike Huckabee pointed out that the Supreme Court decision is to overturn nature. The conservative Family Research Council in America expressed outrage, saying no court can overturn natural law, adding that nature and nature’s God, hailed by the signers of our Declaration of
Independence as the very source of law, cannot be usurped by the edict of a court, even the United States Supreme Court.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose state has also prohibited same-sex marriage, said no court, no law, no rule and no words will change the simple truth that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. And adding its voice to the debate that ensued after the Supreme Court ruling is the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which champions the Vatican’s opposition to marriage equality. It called Friday’s outcome a tragic error, adding that Jesus Christ, with great love, taught unambiguously that from the beginning marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman.
Expectedly, it became a subject of discourse among the clergy and their faithful in Nigeria last Sunday, with many condemning it as a desecration of marriage which has been a core institution in society since ancient times.
The book of Leviticus (chapter 18 v 22 specifiically) frowns at same sex-marriage. How does mankind perpetuate itself through same-sex marriage? Civilisation is indeed endangered by this development in the US. To think that those in same sex-marriage resort to adopting children from heterosexual couples underscores the futility of same-sex marriage and the uselessness inherent in it for the gay couples. All the spurious and puerile arguments by those who support same-sex marriage do not hold water.
Immediately after the Supreme Court verdict in the US, the BBC conducted an opinion poll in Nigeria on same-sex marriage and 87% of Nigerians said they were against it.
Because Nigerians like copying every foreign culture warts and all, there are calls in some quarters that the Federal Government should repeal the law banning same-sex marriage in the country. We believe this tiny few will not have their way because same-sex marriage is not only alien to our culture, it runs counter to biblical injunctions and offends our sensibilities as rational beings. If anything, same-sex marriage is one negative aspect of life we should never borrow from America. If America, with several centuries of civilisation, could choose this destructive path, Nigeria should be wise enough to steer clear of this ungodly development.