Time to step up our game

Patrick Novecosky writes that the fight for religious liberty has only just begun . . .

Patrick Novecosky

In mid-July, I’ll meet my fourth son. While preparing this issue of the magazine, it occurred to me that even though he hasn’t been born, he’s got a tough road ahead of him.

This is our annual Family issue. We decided to dedicate an issue to family a couple of years ago when it was clear that this was a new front in the culture wars. The family has been under attack since Cain slew his brother, but secularists opened this front in a new way a few years ago by attempting to redefine marriage.

Clear-thinking people across the country responded by passing dozens of state constitutional amendments to define marriage as it always has been — one man and one woman. When it was put to the voting public to decide what marriage was, in every case for many years in a row, they chose correctly.

In 2004, President George W. Bush endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples because he thought the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was vulnerable. But he dropped the campaign since most U.S. senators thought DOMA would survive a constitutional challenge.

But the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA in June 2013. Ever since then, federal judges have been striking down voter-approved state constitutional amendments. This judicial activism has incensed conservatives and many faith leaders. The next move for true marriage advocates seems to be a long-term strategy to change as many hearts and minds as possible.

The challenges, however, are daunting. Just last month, Danish parliament passed a law forcing the established Evangelical Lutheran Church to perform same-sex “marriage.” The Catholic bishop of Copenhagen told Vatican Radio that he’s worried the Catholic Church may be forced to perform such “marriage” ceremonies in the future.

How far behind is such Draconian legislation in the United States? The way the culture is rapidly shifting, it may be in my lifetime if we don’t turn the tide soon. Several articles in this issue address these challenges, but none sound the alarm louder than Sen. Rick Santorum’s address to Legatus at the 2014 Summit. (Click here for a related story.) He makes it clear that the other side is winning because we have refused to fight.

The world we’re leaving our children may be better materially and technologically, but certainly not spiritually and morally. The challenges my children — in particular my youngest — will face are beyond my comprehension. That’s why my wife and I take their formation so seriously. In the interim, we’re doing everything we can to change the culture. For their sake we all need to step up our game.

PATRICK NOVECOSKY is the editor-in-chief of Legatus magazine.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Daniel Michael Novecosky was born on July 14, 2014. Mother and baby are doing exceedingly well.

Daniel Michael Novecosky