Church leader responds to letter on Prop. 8
In a letter dated Oct. 29, reference was made to “the marquee of a certain church on Henderson Avenue west of Newcomb Street which reads ‘VOTE YES ON PROPOSITION 8,’” Just so there is no confusion as to which church Mr. Warner was referring to, it is Valley Oak Community Church and we are located at 1970 W. Henderson Ave.
We do believe in and support traditional marriage between a man and a woman, as do nearly every other group, civilization and government in the world regardless of their religious beliefs.
Only in recent years have there been some that have deviated from this traditional view including the four Supreme Court judges in California who just a few months ago decided they knew what was best when they overturned the vote of 61 percent of voters in California (4.5 million people) that approved the definition of marriage as “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California.”
The term "separation of church and state" does not appear in our Constitution but in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to a church group where he is affirming the First Amendent to them, which says that the legislature shall "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," therefore assuring that government would not encroach into religion and the free practice of it. That separation was there to keep government from seeping into religion but not to keep religion out of government.
The separation between the church and the government is to allow people and their religious beliefs as well as those without religious beliefs to flow into government, but not the other way around — much as a backflow device protects a clean water supply from contaminants. The separation Thomas Jefferson referred to was to protect the church from government intervention and becoming what the colonists were getting away from — a government-run church. His original intent was never to keep the church’s influence away from the operations of government.
Patrick Henry, one of our nation's Founding Fathers, said, "Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated (ruined) state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatable with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."
Of the 55 signers of The Declaration of Independence, a majority were orthodox, deeply committed Christians. All of them believed in the Bible as the divine truth, the God of Scripture, and his personal intervention. To say that our Founders believed religion and politics to be incompatible is to deny the true foundation and beliefs our nation was based upon.
To answer the question of IRS codes and tax-exempt status for churches as it pertains to our support of Prop. 8 or any other legislation we would support or oppose, the tax code does allow all churches to discuss legislative issues, support or oppose legislation, encourage its members or the general public to support or oppose legislation. The law is what protects the church’s right to speak into our culture on issues that affect us all, just as it protects the rights of others to do the same.
We may not support or oppose specific candidates or political parties.
In a blog posted by John Schroeder at www.Article6blog.com on Oct. 27, he stated what Prop. 8 is really about very well. "Homosexuals are a group of people, bound not by ethnicity, creed, or religious affiliation, but by behavior. ... Behavior is something it is government's business to control and regulate. The kind of protected status that homosexuals here seek is something this nation has denied throughout its history. We have never allowed protected status based on behavior. Nor can we ever start, for it would be a recipe for chaos."
We as a church proudly and passionately take a stand in support of Prop. 8 because marriage has always been between a man and a woman, because behavior and choice is not a civil rights issue and most importantly for us because we believe all of God’s word, the Bible, and do ask that people vote Yes on Prop. 8 and Prop. 4.
George Washington said, "It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to politlcal prosperity, our religion and morality are indispensable supporters. Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
The Rev. Steve Walker
Valley Oak Community Church
Porterville
