“Even though we won the vote in Congress, we ultimately lost in the court of public opinion. We’re painted as bigots in the media, we’re driven into the corner. And the Supreme Court, which will ultimately have the final say and has already tipped its hand in Romer, will rule against us.
“But now, religious freedom may have to settle for equality with freedom of sexual expression, because it is overriding religious freedom at every turn. This is the battle we’re having with a number of great cultural pressures. We can’t stand for the Defense of Marriage Act, even if, with us, it’s a matter of religious conscience, because to do so is to ‘do harm to gays.’
“The gay rights juggernaut is grinding down on us. It’s the most ominous threat on the horizon in America, and with all the threats we have, that’s a pretty big statement—because it threatens not only to institute something which is an abomination to God, but also to crush our religious liberties in the process.
“Homosexual ‘marriage’ is redefining who we are. It’s redefining what the creation is about and what it’s for. It simply isn’t about any two (or more) people of the same sex coming together, enjoying each other and sharing joint benefits.
We call marriage a sacrament because it is a sign of God and His creation. It’s the definition of the word creation. We’ve got to restore this and teach it in the churches. We’ve got to take this simple little nugget of truth and build on it so that eventually we permeate public consciousness with the realization that this isn’t just about equality. This isn’t just about rights for gays versus straights. This isn’t about civil rights. This is about the plan of creation. And if we destroy that, we’re going to bring the wrath of God upon us. We’re actually going to destroy the very nature of the world we live in, the very purpose of the world and the very purpose of life.
“In a very short time it will be impossible to preach that homosexual behavior is a sin. How do you teach that something is a sin when society is saying it is simply a legitimate choice? This is the camel’s nose under the tent. This is why the homosexual issue is about a lot more than gay rights. It’s about destructing the moral order of society, and the people behind it know that. They really are moral nihilists at heart.
“Now look at the debate going on regarding whether homosexual behavior is immoral. What has for centuries been regarded as immoral and a perversion, a distortion of the natural or created order, has now become moral. In fact, it is an act of bigotry to criticize it. This is incrementalism, cushioning us against what seems so hard at first. You just kind of get used to it; it’s like pornography. After a while, people don’t think it’s so bad after all; they just get used to it.
“I think the attacks on Christians for their stand on marriage is the latest assault by the left on religious liberty. It’s going to be the acid test. Martin Luther King Jr. quoted Augustine, who wrote that an unjust law is no law at all. If we’re not willing to fight this, even to the point of breaking the law, or refusing to recognize the law, then we will lose everything. I think our backs are to the wall, and if your pastor doesn’t have the courage to speak out on this issue, look for another church.”
Selected content is excerpted from My Final Word, releasing August 2015 from Zondervan, by Charles W. “Chuck” Colson with Anne Morse.
Chuck Colson was the founder of Prison Fellowship, the nation’s largest outreach to prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families, as well as Breakpoint, a nonprofit organization that educates Christians on how to apply their faith to all areas of life.
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